Along for the Ride
by Crys8853
Summary: Stephanie is on an assignment and needs the help of a local motorcycle gang to help complete her assignment. Will this lead her down a path to find her the love of her life. HEA but I am not going to tell you who yet
1. Chapter 1

SPOV

We need to bring our readers back up the interest in the magazine has dropped and we are now losing the interest of our readers. Does anyone have any ideas for stories that we can be working on? My boss asks the room full of people surrounding the conference table. Everyone kind of avoiding answering the editors question because we have been having a hard find a story that would help with any interest in the magazine. I was reading about a recent motorcycle gang shoot out that happen recently. Thankfully the ones that were hurt were those members of the gangs themselves but the cops had been alert when these gangs came to town.

"I have an idea" I spoke from the end of the table. My editor raised his eyebrows at me.

"OK Plum, what have you got?" he asks.

"There has been a rise in interest in motorcycle gangs, between the recent shoot out that happen in Texas and the TV show Sons of Anarchy, what if I would to do an undercover in depth piece about life in a motorcycle gang."

"How would you do this Plum?" Johnny Marx asks from little further down the table.

"Well, I have a way, that I am sure that I can not reveal at this moment, but Tom, I can share with you in private. but I will say that I would be able to attempt to start this story, if you can give me like two days, to see if that is a go, then I could get this story started." I watched Tom think it over in his head. Everyone else in the room, had these looks like 'there is no way that she is going to be able to do this'.

"Plum, once this meeting is over, meet me in my office." Tom nodded and then asked if there were any other ideas. A few ideas were presented, none of them were great but they had potential, he sent them back to the drawing board to dig a little deeper on those thoughts. Then he dismissed us. I made my way to my desk to drop off some stuff and then, headed over to Tom's office.

I knocked on his open door. "Tom you wanted to see me?"

"Ah, yes, Steph come on in and shut the door." I nodded and then closed the door behind me. " I like your idea, I just want to make sure that you will be safe, but I also wanted to know how you are going to get inside of this gang, they do not like outsiders." I nodded.

"I have a friend that is a cop, he has an informant that is in one of these gangs. I was going to ask this friend if I could meet with this guy, see if he would be interested in being the center of the piece."

"If you can get his corporation, then you have a go on doing this story, and I want you to be able to offer him anything he demands, if he wants amenity, then he can have it, just let me know his demands, you will have to be able to contact me thur out this story and let me know what you have going." I nod. "Plum this story is not going to take a few weeks, it could take a couple of months, are you okay with that?"

"I can deal with it, but first least see, if I can give get this first meeting to start this ball rolling"

"That's my girl" I nod and then head back to my desk, I pick up the receiver of my phone and then dial Joe.

"Cupcake?"

"Hi, Joe"

"Hi, how are you?"

"I am good, I have heard from you in couple of weeks, glad to hear that you are still alive." he chuckles.

"Sorry about that I have been undercover and have not been able to call anyone. You remember how that goes."

"Yeah, I do. Everything okay?"

" Sure, what is going on?"

" I need a favor, Joe, I am not sure that you will be able to help but I have an idea for a story that would be an in depth undercover piece."

"That sounds interesting, but how can I help Cupcake?"

"You still have that informant that was in the motorcycle gang?"

"Which one?"

"You have more than one?"

"Yes"

"Oh, well I met this guy once, we ran into him at a bar, he was about our age, about as tall as you, dark hair, skin and eyes, long hair pulled back in a pony tail. Muscles."

"Alright, damn do you remember everything?"

"You know that I do. Well do you?"

"You have to be talking about Ranger, and yeah I still know him, he keeps me appraised of some of the gangs movements. What did you have in mind?"

"I would like to see if he would be interested in meeting me?"

"I seriously doubt that he will take the meeting with you, Cupcake"

"Why?"

"Well, let's just say that he is a private kind of guy, and he is not the type that wants to published all over the country."

"Can you just ask him to meet with me, you can give him full disclosure on who I am, I just want to meet with him, he can walk away he doesn't feel comfortable with the idea."

"I will see what I can do there Cupcake, but I would not hold my breathe."

"Thanks, Joe"

"Bye Cupcake." now all I have to is wait to see what the man of mystery has to say.


	2. Leader of the Gang

**Thank you all so much for the great words, I appreciate that more than you know. Hope that you enjoy!**

Chapter 2

RPOV

I can't believe that I am here waiting on this reporter woman to show up, even more so I can't believe that the cop called in one of his favors that I owe him. In all of the years that we have known each other he has never ever called in a favor from me. So this must be important for him to even ask. I have been an informant for the cop for years, he saved my life a few years back and as a repayment for that act I have been giving him information about the other gangs as we come across it. This association with the cop has also kept us keep our noses clean, and we have strived to keep it that way. Last year we had a couple of the younger kids that thought that they could raise money quickly by selling drugs, when I realized that was what they were doing, I handed them over to the cop, with the understanding that they were the only ones in this gang that were doing that type of thing and the cop thanked me, by sending me a some reward money from the bounty that these guys had on their heads.

"Uh, Hi" came this heavenly voice from beside my table, I looked up into the most gorgeous blue eyes that I have ever seen. "Are you Ranger?" she asks. I nod and motion for her to join me at the table. "Thank you for meeting me, I know that Joe probably didn't tell you much but, I want you to know that if you will hear me out on this and I mean really hear me out, if you don't like it then you can walk and I will let it go. Okay?" I nod. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, Joe did not tell me your name?"

"Oh, I am so sorry, I am Stephanie Plum."

"So, what is this story idea that you think that you need my help with?" I ask. The emotions written across her face gave away her nervousness. "And Babe, you do not need to be nervous with me, I am not going to hurt, okay?" she nods takes a deep breath and I can see her relaxing.

"Thank you for that, I don't mean to be nervous it is just that this story if it all works out, then it could be a huge thing for my career." I nod to encourage her to continue. I find myself relaxing, which for me is highly unusually. "My idea is that with the rise in interest in motorcycle gangs and the lifestyle that goes with it, I want to give a true perspective in what that life is really like."

"This is where I come in isn't?" she nods. "Why did you choose me?"

"I have heard stories about you from Joe over the years and I remember meeting you once a couple of years back." My eyes harden and I stiffen. "Ranger, Joe has only told me basics, nothing that would put you in any danger, he would never do that to an informant. He is good cop"

"That he is Babe, that he is. How does he feel about this?"

"He only knows the basics, and I am not sure that is what I need your help with." she answers truthfully.

"So this story, how long would you be with me?"

"My editor seems to think that a few months should get me the story, but I will go with what my instincts tell me." she answers.

"If I was to do this and that is IF, how would we explain your appearance in my group?"

"Well, I thought about that, do you have a currently girl, woman, whatever?" She blushes at this. I felt desire slam through my body.

"You want to come into this as my..." I could not even correctly come up with the term that would describe what she would be.

"Essentially yes, in public that would be what it would appear like, in private, we can be friends, strangers, or just companions who are writing a story together."

"You want me to help you write this story? With you?" she nods and then smiles.

"You know the life, I want to tell your story."

"My story, I can't, there would be to much backlash from that."

"I would not use your name, your gang's name, hell I won't even use state names if that will help hide your identity and the identities of those associated with you. Any thing that is done illegally would not be mentioned and of course your association with Joe will never be mentioned. I just want to tell the story of the life you live not your life specifically." she rushes out.

"Breathe Babe, breathe. When would you need to start this story?"

"Whenever you feel that starting it would be safe and that I would be safe as well." I nod.

"Your safety will not be an issue. You will be marked as mine, is that okay."

"How will I be marked?"

"Tattoo"

"Hmm mm." I could see that she was battling herself in this. I sat to wait her out to see what she was going to say. "Where?"

"Where what?"

"The tattoo where will it need to be?" she asks. I am stunned.

"Well your arm, shoulder or chest on the left side near the heart"

"What would it be?" I smile and then lift my sleeve to show her a small black panther in a crouch position. She leaned forward across the table, she moved her fingers to touch it but stopped herself before she did.

"It is okay you can touch it if you want, yours would have my initials on it."

"Why the initials?"

"It completely let's anyone know who you belong to, even within my group. No one will touch you."

"I know that I am asking a lot of questions, please feel free to tell me to back off, if it gets to be to much or too personal."

"It is okay, I will let you know if something is off limits or I won't answer." she nods in acknowledgement. Then she traces the tail of the panther on my arm, the feel of her finger sends shock waves up my arm. she pulls her finger back as if she felt them as well. I smile at her.

"So is the panther a sign of your group?" I nod. "If I just had the tattoo of the panther then I would belong to the group but not one specific member? Right?" I nod again. "And by having your initials, I solely belong to you?" I nod again

"Got it in one, Babe" she smiles.

"So does this mean that you are in?" she asks.

"Yes, but I have a couple of conditions" she nods and then gives me the continue motion with her hand. "First, my name or group name can not be mentioned anywhere in the article" She nods.

"Can I use replacement names, Like for instances you would be Park or Renegade?"

"I can live with that, do not do that with the group name, do not even mention a group name to be safe" she nods, "Second, I need you to be able to trust you" she nods. "This means that you will follow my lead in any situation, I will do my best to prepare you, for what is expected of you, but there be a time that you will need to follow me to stay safe, I need your word"

"Ranger, you have my word that I will follow you lead in any situation, I need to be able to trust you as well, that you will not let any harm come to me as well." I nod in understanding.

"Next, I want to read the story before it goes to print, just to make sure that the story is exactly what you are pitching here, I do not want to read the story after it is printed for it to show us in a bad light, that is not why I am agreeing to do this." she nods, "Lastly the tattoo, you will need to have it covered up or removed when this story is over, no one outside of the gang is allowed to have it." She nods again. "Questions?"

"A few, but they can wait, I have a few things that I need as well" He nods. "First, I need to be able to contact my editor at least once a week, this is a safety precaution, it was implemented a few years back and it is necessary." He nods "Second, I am trusting you to protect me. I do not trust easily, but I feel that I can place that trust in you, and you will not break it willingly." He nods and covers his heart with his hand, it is a gesture from ancient times with knights that was how they swore their life. hmm interesting. "Last, what if we fall madly in love and you want me to keep the tattoo?"

"Babe, don't hold your breathe, I am not that type of man. I have not been in a relationship with a woman like that in years." she nods at my answer.

"How do we go about this?" she asks.

"Well, I think that we need to orchestrate our meeting, so that your sudden appearance does not seem odd." She nods. "I am meeting the guys at a bar called Lucky's tonight, have you heard of it?" She nods.

"I have but have never been there. About what time?"

"We will be there about 9," she nods "Dress like you are wanting some action, that way when I come on to you, it will not be suspicious." she nods. I can't wait to see what she dresses like. "Well Babe" I say as I rise from the table and throw a few bills on the table to cover the check. she also stands and holds her hand out to me. I shake it. "I will see you tonight" I whisper in her ear, and then I am out the door.


	3. Meeting Ranger

Chapter 3 "Meeting" Ranger

SPOV

After my meeting with Ranger, I spoke with my editor, he was excited that this story may take place. He told me that I could have as long as I needed that the team had come up with some great stories that would help bring up the readership, and that he knew that my story would establish a new readership, once it was published, I told him about what Ranger wanted and he had no problem with that, as long as I checked in. I told him that Ranger was fine with that.

Later that night, I was getting ready to go to Lucky's and 'meet' Ranger. I was standing in my closet in a black halter that showed off my shoulders and arms. Running my hands across Ranger's tattoo, this afternoon was sexy, I have never really liked tattoos before, but for some reason being marked as his was a big turn on. I spied my thigh high leather boots on the floor of my closet and decided that I was wearing them tonight. Skirt or pants. I was digging into my dresser, when I found a pair of cut off shorts that were tight in all the right places. I slide them on over my black lace thong from Victoria's Secret, then slide into the butter soft leather boots, that I had purchased on a whim and had found that I did not wear them as often as I thought I would. I then grabbed a small bag and my leather jacket and headed out the door.

I pulled up to the bar in my shiny new Nissan 370Z black, when I brought the car it was love at first site and I knew that I needed to own this car. I made my way into the bar after parking a couple of blocks down in a friend's lot. The bar was dark and dank, but it was clean and that had to say something. I sat myself down and the bar and ordered a Jack and coke. I slowly sipped it, while I waited on Ranger to come pick me up. I noticed a large group back by the pool tables. I ventured back over to the group and knew immediately that this was Ranger's group. There were several women amongst the group and they were paying attention to whatever member was the closest to them at the time. Several of the men were large and shadowed the same build that Ranger had. I surveyed the tables looking for a spot that maybe I could play at.

"Hey there Beautiful, what is a good looking woman like you doing here?" he asked.

"Well, I was just looking to see if there was a spot for me to play a game in, but it looks as if the tables are all full." I started to turn and go back to my barstool, when the guy with stunning green eyes, grabbed my arm and said "Beautiful if you want to play pool let's get you setup on the next game somewhere, but I have to warn you these guys will take your money."

"Dually noted" I quipped back. We found a table that was towards the back that had an open slot for me to play at. I felt a tingle run up my neck. I turned to look and see what was causing that sensation, it was very eerily close to what I felt touching Ranger's arm. It was Ranger entering the room, he immediately had the attention of the women that were here with the group. He smiled at each of them, giving pecks here and there, shaking hands with several of the men as he past. I watched him for a moment, before Lester, the green eyed wonder shook me from my thoughts.

"Beautiful, you are gorgeous, but he will never even notice that you are here. That man is not looking for anything other than a good fuck and he can get that from any of those girls there." I nodded that I had heard him. Before I noticed it was my turn on the table. I had to break, I managed to get two stripes and one solid in the pockets. I chose stripes and shot three more balls into the pockets before I missed. The guy I was playing, who from what I could gather was named Cal, had a large skull tat on his forehead. He whistled and then shot three balls as well. I was down to two balls and the eight ball. My shots were not lining up like I would like them to, but I was managing to mess up his game with my next two turns. I felt the tingle intensify, when I heard, I have next game come from the sultry voice that was Ranger. I sank my 15 ball and was down to my 12 and the 8 balls and missed my next shot. Cal was not doing much better.

"Damn, woman, where did you learn to play like this?"  
"College" I giggled. Cal just shook his head a lined up his next shot. He missed. I shot calling my last shot. "8 ball corner pocket."

"Woman, you will never make that shot, I have only seen that accomplished one time and it was not by you." Cal warned. I moved to look over the shot again making sure that I could sink the 8 with this shot. Having double check my shot. I lined up and made the shot. We had gathered a crowd watching, Ranger leaned against the wall and was silently watching us banter back and forth. The air in the room seemed to be sucked out as everyone breathed in and watched the 12 ball sink into the middle pocket hitting the eight ball and sending it flying in to the corner pocket. Cal swore and then tossed back his beer.

"So what are your terms?" I must have looked confused. "Sorry, our group plays on bets, what are your terms?"

"How about you buy my next round and call it even?" he smiled,

"You know that you are letting me off easy right?" I nodded and then smiled.

"What is your poison?"  
"Jack and Coke" he nods and heads to the bar. I turn back to the table to see that Ranger has racked up the balls for the next game. "Hi" I say. Ranger turns to me, and gives me a smile.

"You should know that if he won he was planning on taking you to bed." Ranger says with a smirk.

"Who says that I would not have let him" I quip back. He smiles. "Terms, I would like to know them beforehand this time?"

"Mine are that you will go home with me and yours?"

"Same" I say back. He looks up into my eyes with a wolf grin.

"I am so glad that we will both be getting what we want tonight" He says in a deep husky voice that is thick with desire. "I break" I nod. Ranger breaks and sinks in a solid. Looks like I am stripes again. He sinks four balls in a row and I am standing there watching myself lose this game. I am watching him move about the table as he is lining up his next shot. I lean in close to him and whisper in his ear

"I can't wait till we are alone and I can rip those clothes off of your body and then lick and kiss you from head to toe worshipping you like the god you seem to be." His body shivers. "Cold?" he growls.

"Playing with fire." He quips back, I laugh and step back watching as he misses his shot. "Paybacks are a bitch there Babe." he whispers as we pass each other. I walk around the table lining up my first shot. I see a few that could happen but only one that will help me catch up. I set to line the shot up and take it. I know that Ranger is waiting to get me back from my little move back there. All three balls sink into the pocket. I then see another shot, I lean down to line up when I feel a hand brush up against my ass. I know that it is Ranger trying to make me miss but, I am use to this, so I take the shot sinking two more. He curses. In Spanish. I line up my next shot and I feel him lean his body against mine adjusting my shot making it better. I quiver from the feel of his body and the tempeture in the room jumps up. He laughs and then pulls away from me and I miss the shot. He smiles at this and then turns to take his turn. He sinks two more balls. Then lines up his next shot, I can see that he is going to make it only leaving eight ball but he will have to break up the balls around it and they are mine. I smirk at him as he takes notice that he will have to break up the balls around the eight in order to sink the eight and I can tell that he is not sure that he can do that without sinking one of mine. I make my way over to the table where Cal is and grab my drink take a sip and kissing Cal on the cheek to thank him for it. He nodded and then pulled me into his arms. I watch as Ranger eyes get dangerously dark. Cal drops his arms from around me and then moves me back to where I was standing before.

"Boss, seems to think that he has laid claim." Cal whispers in my ear. I nod. Cal runs his finger across my collarbone and I hear Ranger growl.

"Cal, what are you doing?" I ask.

"Teasing him, he knows the rules you do not carry the mark and are free territory unless otherwise marked."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"We have a code, we mark what belongs to us, not just as a group but also as a person." Cal raises his sleeve and shows me the same tat as the one Ranger had shown me earlier in the day. "We all have this tattoo, it is a symbol of our group, those that belong to us wear it," he points at the girls, "They wear the mark, they belong to the group and they travel with us as well. They share us, all of us." He gave me a look that gave me no doubt that he would make me one of those girls. I looked up in time to see Ranger sink the 8 ball and I knew that I had lost. He gave me a smile and I wasn't sure I wanted to know what was going on in his mind.

"Are you ready to meet my terms, Babe?" the wolf grin from earlier was back as he put the cue stick down on the table and then within three strides he was at my side and sliding his arms around my waist. "Hey, Tank." Ranger said talking to the biggest blackest man that I have ever seen.

"Yeah, Ranger." He answers.

"I am headed out, see you in morning" Tank nods.

"Yeah man have a good night, Ma'am" he said directed at me. I nodded and smiled at the giant of a man.

"Did you call that man, Tank?" I asked as we hit the parking lot.

"Yeah, Babe, that is what we call him." I nodded "Where did you park?"

"A couple of blocks down the street, I have a friend that lives close and she lets me park there, when I am in the neighborhood." I answered with a bit of teasing in my voice.

"Babe, I am trying to be gentleman here, we are working together, and it is bad enough that you come to the bar looking like sin, and then proceed to tease me." He has taken his body and pinned mine against his and his bike behind me. His arms were around my waist and he was bringing me closer. "Let me take you home, then I have to go ride around for a while, to make it look like, I spent my time with you." He said in a sigh.

"Can I ride with you? I have never ridden on a motorcycle, and if I am going to pull off this story, then I need to get comfortable with riding on a bike and touching you."

"Does touching me make you uncomfortable?" He asks with a little sadness in his voice.

"No, it is just that we are supposed to convey a couple that is and has been intimate, and I just want to make sure that I don't fail in that, I really want to make sure that this story goes well" He leaned down and kissed me.

 **I am sorry about the delay in getting out this chapter, I was stuck on where I wanted the next chapter to go, so I held back on getting this one published until chapter 4 was taking shape. I hope that you enjoyed. Crys**


	4. The Midnight Ride

Chapter 4

RPOV

I kissed her, I can't believe that I kissed her. Shit was she ever a good kisser, but if I was going to survive this story of hers, I needed to keep distance from her. I broke the kiss and leaned my forehead against hers. I was trying to catch my breath and it seems that she was in the same state. I picked her up and placed her on the bike, I climbed on in front of her and then reeved the bike up. My Harley was not a small bike by any means, but I could handle it. She wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled her body up against my back. She laid her head on my back and sighed. I shifted the bike into gear and drove out of the parking lot. Her thighs were tight around the outside of mine and I could not get the image of those legs wrapped around me as I fucked her hot, wet center.

"What are you thinking about?" She said in my ear. "It is not very often that I hear a man like you moan like that"

"You don't want to know" I said back.

"Yes I do or I would not have asked"

"I was thinking about what it would feel like to have these thighs" I said as I ran my hand up and down the outside of her thigh " wrapped around my waist with my dick buried deep inside of you", She moaned, holy shit she like the thought of me buried deep inside of her. My cock sprang to life, but it wasn't until she wrapped her legs around my waist and pulled herself closer to my back did it want to break free from it confines. I focused myself on not crashing, it took a Herculean effort on my part but I succeed barely.

A couple of hours later, we were safely in one of my favorite spots in the whole earth, on a small cliff overlooking the ocean. Steph had pulled herself around me, so that we were face to face sitting on my bike, I have never done this with a woman.

"So, Ranger, something that you said earlier, is still bothering me?"

"What was that?" I asked quirking up one of my eyebrows.

"You said that after this was all over that you wouldn't ask me to keep the tattoo, why are you so sure that we are not going to have something that you will want to cherish with me forever?".

"I know who I am, and I never want the wife and kids, kind of life, where I come home every day, only to repeat it all over the next day. I've known girls like you, you all want a husband, kids and a place with white picket fences."

"You don't know me, ever since I was little I have wanted to be an intergalactic princess or Wonder Woman. I have never wanted kids, it is not that I don't like them, I just don't want to be solely responsible for one. I would like to get married one day, but I would never ask that man to change who he is to fit an image that I don't want anyway. She pushed herself away from me and then climbed off the bike. She slipped off her boots and walked down the pathway to the beach just below us. I kick off mine as well and followed her. Running up behind her to catch up, I grabbed her wrist to get her attention.

"Steph, I didn't mean that you would be that type of woman, what the fuck are you mad about anyway? We are supposed to be working together, how did this become about me and you becoming something more?" I was stunned at what had happened. I was having a fight with a woman, especially a woman that was not mine. I had not had a woman as mine in such a long time that I was unsure what was going on for a short second. I was scared at how natural this seemed to feel. I had never been attached to a woman where this kind of conversation really happened.

"Ranger" she said it snapped my attention out of my thoughts. "Hey, I am not mad, this is not a conversation about more than a comment that was made that I wanted clarified. I am sorry if I made it seem like this conversation was more than that." I nodded.

"Then what the hell happened?" she looked up at me for a moment before she cleared her throat. I snapped, this was annoying me that I could not figure out what she was trying to convey.

"My entire life people have had expectations of what I should do, who I should be and what kind of life that I should live, it took me a long time to break that barrier down. When I finally broke free, I don't like it when people assume what I want or what I should want." i pulled her into my body, wrapping my arms around her waist.

"Babe, I am so sorry, I should not have assumed that you would want that type of life, what I mean is that I know girls and many of them want those things, and those are things that I have never been interested in." she nodded and then pulled herself out of my arms and started walking down the beach, she made her way to the water's edge and stared out into horizon. I watched her for a moment and then made my way to her. "So you wanted to be Wonder Woman, huh?" I asked as I bumped into her shoulder.

"Yes, she was amazing, a true bad ass in her own right. If she had had Superman strength she would have been unstoppable." I chuckled. "Wow, did the bad ass biker, Ranger, just laugh at a white girl from the Burg?"

"Yeah, Babe, I think I did." I held out my hand to her and we walked for a little bit before we turned back and made out way back to the bike, along the way we talked about little things, like where we grew up and how many siblings we each had. She had been shocked about the fact that I grew up in a house with two brothers and three sisters. She told me about going to college and how she really hated some of her classes. I told her about my brief foray into college and how after two years I joined the Army then how I joined the never asked me, why the motorcycle gang or about it activities, like she knew that I would not tell. Either that or she was waiting to see what she would discover on this journey.

We sat of the bike, her back to my front as we watched the sunrise over the water. Once the sun broke over the water's edge, she climbed on the back of the bike and we headed back to her car. Once we were in the garage that she had parked the car in, we talked for a little longer about what would need to happen over the couple of days. We shared our goodbyes, I leaned in gave her a short, but very passionate kiss on the lips before turning and climbing on my bike and motoring away. As I was riding away from her, I couldn't help thinking had I ever spent all night with a woman, where we talked all night, better yet had I ever spent all night with a woman, and wanted to see her again.

It was a couple of days later when I found that the gang would be ready to roll by Friday, I needed to get Steph ready to go. The last couple of days the guys had been trying to get out of me what had happened between the two of us that night, I would just smile and walk away the guys would just groan and adjust themselves. I would shake my head and then head off to where ever I was going.

I hit the speed dial that I had assigned to Steph. It rang out twice before she answered.

"Hello."

"Babe"

"Ranger"

"Yeah Babe, I just got word this morning that we will be headed out on Friday, to Cali. We have a project out there that needs our attention."

"Okay, I might need you help I am not sure what I should pack."

"I can help with that, we also need to go get that tattoo, I want you protected and this is the first step in that."

"Hmm, sure. I understand, I just have never had a tattoo before and I am nervous."

"Babe, I will be there. There is something specific I want added to your tattoo, that is apart of mine as well, that will be extra protection for you as well."

"Whatever you think I will need. I'm game. When do you want to take me shopping, I think I will need a better jacket then what I have and I want to make sure that I am not missing anything else."

"Babe we will figure it out, how about this afternoon since it is Wednesday?"

"Sure, I could go shopping."

"I meant the tattoo"

"We could do that too." She answered. I had a feeling that she was terrified but did not want me to know.

"Babe, I will pick you up at your office at 3 is that good?"

"I will meet you outside"

"See you then Babe" I disconnected the call thinking to myself that this afternoon would be fun.

 **Hope that you enjoyed. tbc...**


	5. Tattoo?

Chapter 5 Tattoo?

I was nervous as I stood outside my office building waiting on Ranger to show up, I know that he said that he would be here at 3 but I was too nervous to sit at my desk any longer. I had spent the last couple of days finishing up some stuff that was still on my desk before I left on this extended assignment, but I was not getting anything done, while worried about how much getting this symbol of protection would hurt. I knew that Ranger was trying to protect me in getting this he was doing what he thought was best for me, but I was unsure that I would be able to go through with the whole ordeal. I was lost in thought till I heard the rumble of what was unmistakable as the sound of a Harley coming around the corner. I looked up from where I was standing glancing at where the sound was coming from to see Ranger approaching quickly I could tell that he had worn his hair down and that he was wearing just a vest over the expanse of his chest today. When he stopped directly in front of me at the curb, I could see the faint smile on his face at the expression on mine.

"Ready Babe." I nodded and climbed on behind him. Thirty minutes later we were standing in front of what looked to me like a very dirty and shady tattoo parlor.

"Is it safe?" I asked hesitantly. He leaned down in my ear and whispered.

"Of course, I would never bring you somewhere that I would not take my own body." I nodded that I understood what he was trying to convey to me, that this was where he got all of his work down.

A couple of minutes later, I was sitting in a chair discussing where I would like to have my tattoo, which still sounds weird to me by the way, placed. I was starting to get really nervous about getting this. Would I like it and want more? Would Ranger like it and how would he react? I could tell that this whole ordeal was stirring something within him that I was unsure of what he was thinking.

"Okay Little Miss let's get this started. From what I understand you are getting the pouncing panther with the initials R.C.M. underneath it?" I nodded. "Okay then, I was also told that something special was being added, but it is a surprise." I gave him a confused look and then nodded going along with whatever Ranger had setup. The man whose name I learned was Russ, applied the design template to my shoulder blade. I could not peek at what was going on because of course all of the work was being done behind me. Ranger was straddling a stool sitting directly in front of me, when Russ started the buzz of the needle, I reached out and grasped Ranger's hand and squeezed it tightly, and closing my eyes and taking a deep breathe.

"Babe, he is just getting the ink loaded. Take a deep calming breath, it will hurt a little but nothing that will traumatize you." I nodded but did not let go of his hand. He squeezed my hand in return. "Babe, I will be right here, the whole time, relax this is going to take a couple of hours for him to finish." I nod again.

"Talk to me, tell me something to help keep my mind off of what is going on."

"What do you want me to tell you, to talk to you about?"

"It does not matter, anything, how about why you joined the army."

OK, Babe, I was a sophomore in college when the towers were hit, that was the day that I decided that I needed to do more than sit in a classroom and discuss things that never happen in the real world. So I went down to the recruiter and sign away my rights to become an American Solider. I went to basic that winter, by the next summer, I was training to become a Ranger. I was in the military until last year, but most of the stuff I did is highly classified and not something that I can discuss."

"Did you see war?"

"Yes, I fought in Afghanistan, for 6 months, before I start doing missions for the Rangers, I still spent some time over there after that taking care of the ops that were coming down the pipeline."

"Now?"

"I ride bikes all over the country, and try not to think about that time in my life." I nodded understanding that he was done talking about this subject."

"Where are we headed in California?"

"First to San Diego, then we head north to Fresno, then we might head north to Vancouver."

A few hours later, I was done and Russ was ready for me to see my art as he called it. I stood in front of the mirror with my back turned. Ranger stood in front of me smiling. He was holding a mirror that would allow for me to see what the tat looked like.

"Ready Babe?" I nodded he handed me the mirror I maneuvered it so that I could see in detail what the tattoo really looked like. When I finally got a good look at what was on the tat, I smiled to myself. I was marked, I belonged to the man standing in front of me, my stomach turned in flips, I belonged to someone, even if it was just in name. He had me marked as his, I wore the mark that made me his. I smiled at this thought, the thought of belonging to Ranger. Ranger walked over to where I was standing he pulled me into him and whispered in my ear.

"Does this make you happy, the thought of belonging to me make you happy?" My breathe was coming out in short pants and I was having a hard time focusing. "Babe, if you really want to be mine, say the word and I will make you mine" I leaned into his body. "Babe, this tattoo is by far the sexiest thing I have ever seen on a woman, and do you feel how much I want you right now." I purred in response.

"Ranger, what is your real name?" he looked at me with some confusion. "I don't know your real name and now it is on my body."

"My name is Ricardo Carlos Manoso." I nod. He leans in and claims my lips. The kiss was hard and passionate, he slipped his tongue tracing my lips, and I open them allowing him entrance. He explores my mouth. I moan into the kiss. When we break the kiss, it is because of the need for air. He places his forehead against mine. "Babe" he pants. I can feel myself falling in love with this man, and the fact that at the end of this assignment he will walk away and I will have to get rid of the mark that makes me feel whole. He must have sensed my mood change. "Babe, if you want to keep this" he says as he runs his finger across the new mark. "Then you can keep it. It looks good on you and no other woman will ever bear it" I nuzzle my nose in his neck and inhale his scent. "Let's go Babe, I am hungry and it sounds like you could eat as well." I nod, thank Russ for the great work and head out of shop.

We climb onto the bike and head off to a little Thai place that he knows.

"Is this okay?" I nod. He grabs my hand and pulls me along after him. We find a seat and then look over the menu. "Babe, tell me what is going on in that brain of yours, I can smell that smoke from over here?"

"Sorry, just thinking about all of the stuff that I need to do over the next couple of days."

"Try again, Babe." I just sat there unable to bring myself to look at him, I was so lost in thought that I did not notice that he had come over to my side of the booth, he took my head in his hands. "Look at me, Babe." I shook my head. "Baby, look at me" The change in name is what made me look up at him. "I am serious, I was serious in that shop, if you want to be mine, really, mine then just say the word and I will make you mine." He wiped tears away from my face that I didn't even know that I was crying. "Fuck Babe, you really want…" he stopped and leaned into me and then pulled me closer. He kissed me sweetly on the forehead. "Babe" I was shaking these feelings just hit me, they practically body slammed into me. I was unsure of how to process all of it. Our food came and we spent the rest of meal in complete silence, not really sure where we should go from here.

TBC...


	6. The Fight

**Hello all,**

 **I want to thank you all for the kind words that you have given me. I wanted to let you all know that I did leave out the special detail in the tattoo, but I did that on purpose, it will be discussed in a future chapter so keep that thought.**

Chapter 6 The Fight.

RPOV

Seeing Steph get her tattoo, was interesting, but it wasn't until my initials were inscribed in her body, did my body tighten with need and want, I understood that, it was the caveman in me, that primal desire to mark things as mine. What brought in my heart was when I saw the desire in her eyes, when she saw the tattoo, on her body. She want to be mine. In that moment, I knew that this mark would never ever leave her body, and this woman would be with me forever. The power of the emotions behind that thought slammed into me. When we made it to the restaurant, I could see in her eyes that she was lost in thought. After we ordered our food, I ask her what was going on, she told me that she was just thinking about all that she needed to do before we headed out. I knew that was not all that she was thinking about. I got up from my side of the booth and went to hers.

"Look at me Babe" she bowed her head and looked at her lap and shook her head. "Baby, look at me" Her head shot up and looked at me. "I am serious, I was serious in that shop if you want to be mine, really mine then just say the word, and I will make you mine." I noticed that she had tears running down her face. Holy Shit, this beautiful, tender clearly too good for me woman wanted to belong to me. She was giving me her heart. "Fuck Babe, you really want…." I could not finish the sentence, my emotions were threatening to overwhelm me. I closed my eyes and pulled her close to me and when I felt like I could speak without showing the emotions that were coming to the surface. I leaned my forehead against hers and then kissed her forehead softly, sweetly. Our meals arrived after that and we were quiet the rest of the meal, I was trying to not literally take her at this table, she looked like she was trying to figure out if I meant the words that I had said to her. What was shocking to me whether I would ever tell her that I meant those words down to my very core? This is the thought that made stop speaking before, I am not sure how or even when, but this girl, woman had gotten under my skin and weaseled her way into my heart, and lord help if it wasn't exactly want I wanted. Fuck was I ever in trouble.

The ride home was just as quiet as the meal, I walked her to the door and told her that I call her tomorrow so that we could go shopping. She nodded and then leaned up and kissed me very sweetly on the lips and then was gone as she shut the door. I stood there listening until she engaged the locks on the other side. I then made my way down to the parking lot and climbed on my bike, I drove off and headed to the bar, I needed a drink and fast.

When I arrived at the bar, I ordered a bottle of tequila and some limes and made my way back to the corner booth. I did shot after shot trying to get the feeling to go away, those damn feelings that would have me spilling my guts to some woman that I just met a few short days ago. Then I thought about the conversations that we had during the time she was getting her tattoo, that damn tattoo and my male primal urges. I am not drunk enough for this. A little while later, Cal and Tank came and spotted me drinking away my sorrows.

"Ranger, what is up man?" Cal asked.

"Nothing," Tank just raised his eyebrow at me and then at the bottle of tequila on the table. I just shrugged.

"So Ranger" Cal said after he downed a shot. "That girl the other night, did she handle as good as well as she looked?" I lunged across the table and punch him square in the jaw, it was hard enough that he fell out of his chair, but not hard enough that he was knocked out. He was immediately on his feet ready to fight me. Tank stood in between us.

"Ranger, back off now. He did not mean anything by his comment, and you are overacting about some pussy." This comment made me rage with anger and I growled. "What is with up with you, you never act like this over a girl, hell I have seen you share women with Cal before. What is so special about this one girl, that has you acting this way, it is not like you have marked her."

"I did."

"Oh shit, the Mighty Manoso, has marked a woman as his." We all sat down and shot the shit with a few more shots tossed back along the way. When we finally left the bar, I was aching to hold my Babe, and really claim her as mine, but I had to wait on her to say the words, to say that she wanted to be mine. In my inebriated state, I wanted what was clearly mine. It was just waiting to be taken.

I made my way back to her apartment. It was 3 am and she was more than likely asleep, but I needed to hold her. Parked the bike and made my way into the building. I knocked on her door and waited, when she did not answer, I knocked again a little louder. She opened the door chain in place.

"Ranger?"

"Babe"

"What do you want it is really late?"

"I need to hold what is mine, and you are mine." I heard her gasp and then looked up into her eyes.

"You are drunk." It was not a question. She shut the door and then I heard the chain give way and she opened the door, gesturing for me to enter. I gladly came in, I heard the door close behind me and then I had her pinned against the door. "Ranger, stop, this is not what you want to do right now. You are drunk and you need to sleep this off so that you can think clearly."

"Babe, you are what I want, and since you are mine, I think I have the right to take you." I whispered in her ear. I ground my hips into hers to show her how much I wanted her.

"Ranger, as nice as that feels, I think that we both should get some sleep, and discuss this in the morning."

"NO! I want you right now, and I always get what I want. Even more so because of what you are wearing that mark it makes you mine, I will not be denied what is mine."

"Then I think that you should leave because, you came to the wrong place, I may bear your mark but I am not yours as you have clearly stated to me before." She opens the door and gestures for me to leave. I walk closer to her and then slam the door close.

"I am not leaving. Not until you give me what I want." I grabbed her arm. That was my second mistake of the night, the first was thinking that I could treat this woman like I had any of the rest of them.

The next thing that I remember was the feeling of jack hammers in my head, and the smell of coffee. I moved to sit up only to find that the movement made the little jack hammers much worse.

"Good morning" I look up to see my Babe standing there, holding a cup of coffee. "How did you sleep?" Her voice is very tight and her body is very tense.

"Okay, I guess, I don't remember going to sleep"

"Well that could be because you didn't go to sleep."

"Then how did I end up on the couch."

"Well, when you decided that you were going to force yourself upon me, I decided that you needed to be taught a lesson." I tensed at this statement but my curiosity won out, I needed to know how she had done that.

"How?" I asked.

"When you came at me, I introduced my knee to your balls and then punched you in the jaw, you went out like a light, and I didn't think that I hit you that hard, but it could have also just been the alcohol as well. At some point during the night you must have crawled over here to the couch. That was not where I left you." I nodded.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" she shook her head. "Babe, I do not know what I was thinking, I hope that you can trust me to protect you, even though it looks like you can clearly protect yourself, if need be."

"Did I hurt you?" she asks.

"Not sure yet, the most that I have been able to do is sit up, would you happen to have some aspirin?"

"Of course let me get you some, and would you like some coffee?"

"Please Babe that sounds amazing." She nods and then heads quickly down the hall, to what I presume is a bedroom. She returns a moment later carrying an Advil bottle. She then turns and heads to the kitchen where I hear her open the fridge. I slowly stand and wait for my head to quit pounding then head to the kitchen, after a few steps, I notice that I am sore and it is painful to walk. Damn that hurts. When I make it to the kitchen I see that she is just pouring the coffee into a cup.

"How do you want your coffee?" she asks as I enter the kitchen.

"Black would be fine. Thanks"

"I am glad to see that you manners have returned, along with your common sense, I hope."

"We will have to see. Are you mad about last night?"

"Not sure, do you want to tell me what was going on?"

"Um" I say.

"Yeah, that is what I thought, I can't learn to trust you if, you don't at least place a little in me as well, I am allowing myself to trust you because this assignment I have no idea what to expect and you live this life, so I need you to guide me and not let me fall. So I have to trust you. I will let it go this time but know that once we are on the road, I need you to be honest with about what is going on." I nod. "Good, now I have to go into work for a couple of hours before we meet up."

"How about we meet for lunch and go from there, I promise I will be on my best behavior." She nods. Then makes her way to the door gathering her purse and work bag and then heads out.

"Lock up when you leave." I nod and then she is gone.

TBC...


	7. Confrontation with Joe

**Thanks everyone for the kind words. Here is the next chapter. Enjoy.**

Chapter 7 Confrontation with Joe

SPOV

After the confrontation this morning with Ranger I was not really in the mood to deal with work, but I needed to get this all wrapped up so that I could leave in the morning with Ranger and the group. I was excited to get started on this assignment. I knew what had happened last night was more the tequila and testosterone than Ranger, but still the fact that he would try and force himself on me had me on edge. I was thankful for the self-defense lessons that Joe made me take, even though I had totally been pissed at the time. I should send a thank you basket of muffins or a cake. Yum cake, anyways. I knew that the trust that I had placed on Ranger was not misplaced, but I would need to be on guard until he resolve the possessiveness of me wearing his mark, has created for him. Last night when he dropped me off, I was so close to say the words that would make him make me his. I wanted it so bad, but I could see the struggle in his eyes, it was the same one that I was having in my heart. I can't fall in love with this guy, 1. Because I have just met this guy and absolutely nothing about him 2. He has already told me that he does not want that kind of attachment and 3. He is a contact for a story. I will do this story and then we will move on with our lives, simple as that. I shook my head, to shake those thoughts from my head and started back on my work.

My desk phone rang just as I picked up my pen to make a note on this assignment.

"Plum"

"Cupcake?"

"Joe, how are you?"

"Good, how did you meeting go with Ranger? Is he going to help you out with this secret assignment?"

"It went well, and yes, he is, we are leaving tomorrow."

"Steph, what do you mean leaving?" Joe asked.

"Oh, um, can you meet me at the diner in about 15 mins, I will tell you what is going on?"

"Sure see you then." And he disconnected. I got ready to go meet Joe, knowing that we were setting up ourselves for a fight, especially after he sees the tattoo on my shoulder. I gather my bag and head down to the diner.

I make it to diner right at 15 mins. I see Joe sitting in the back of the diner. He is already nursing a cup of coffee. I make my way over to him, he smiles and stands, I walk right into the hug that he is offering, Joe and I have known each other for the better part of lives and while for the most part we have been friends, there was always that underlying thought that we could be more, but we have known for a long time now that we were never supposed to be more than friends.

"So, what is this trip about?" he asks as we sit down. I order coffee from the waitress. She brings me a cup and while I am making my coffee the way that I like it, I answer his question.

"Well, when I asked for you to arrange that meeting with Ranger, I didn't tell explain to you the whole assignment that I would be travelling with him and his gang for a while for an undercover story."

"Steph you know I don't think this is a great idea but I know how you are when it comes to things like this. So please tell me what is going on?"

"Okay, so I asked you to arrange a meeting with Ranger, so that I could speak with him. Well we had the meeting what I didn't tell you was that I wanted to go undercover to write a story on the life a motorcycle gang. I am going to be traveling with Ranger and his group for a few months, I will be posing as Ranger's woman."

"WAIT, you are going to do what?" he yelled.

"I am going to go with Ranger. What is wrong?" I asked.

"Steph, do you know what they do to the women in that group when they are theirs?" I nodded. "Please tell me that you did not let him mark you as one of those women?"

"What do you mean by one of THOSE women?" I was getting mad. Was he questioning my actions or was he calling me a whore. I was not sure of which.

"Steph, they share the women in that group."

"I know, he told me that, but I was also told that I would be marked as his and no one would mess with me."

"What do you mean, he would mark you as his? Show me?" I pulled off the jacket that I was wearing and turned so he could see the tattoo. "Fuck, Steph..." Joe ran his finger along the letter etched on my back. When I turned back, I noticed that Joe was tense and he was looking at the door that was behind me. I turned and notice that Cal and the guy I think that Ranger called Tank were standing at the door. Cal smiled and made his way to me.

"Hey there gorgeous, what are you doing here?" Cal asked as he approached the table.

"I was just meeting with my friend here, Cal, would you like to join us?" He nods. I turn so that I can move over to allow for him to slide in next to me. When I hear him gasp behind me.

"Fuck, Tank, why didn't you tell me that he marked her? I would have kept my mouth closed last night."

"I didn't know till you were laying on the floor." He replied.

"What happened last night?" I asked.

"We ran into Ranger last night and he was drinking, Cal made a comment about you and Ranger apparently did not like what the comment suggested. So Cal got a fist to the jaw." Tank said in emotionless way like he was reporting the weather.

"So are you riding with us tomorrow Gorgeous?" I nodded. "With Ranger or on your own?"

"With Ranger" They both raised their eyebrows at this.

"Let me see Thom's work." Tank asked. I turned so that he could see what Thom has done. "Nice, I think he is getting better, mine sure doesn't look like that." I giggled.

"Show me." Tank took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve. His tat was just like Ranger's his initials scrawled down the length of his panther. "Nice, May I?" He nods, I run my finger along the letters. "What is your real name?" I asked.

"If I tell you I might have to kill you" he answered. I again giggled. By this point Joe was glaring at me and the interaction that I was having with these men.

"Steph, I can't allow for you to continue on with this charade that you have created for yourself." He said.

"What I am sorry, you can't allow me, I must have overlooked something you are not my father, you are not my brother and you sure as hell are not my husband not that, that would give you any right either." I gestured for Cal to allow me out of the booth. Joe grabbed my forearm and pulled me away roughly. His hand was tight on my arm and it was starting to hurt me. "Ow, Joe that hurts, let go of me." I went to raise my knee, when I was jerked out of his grip only to be pushed behind a very pissed off Tank.

"Just what do you think that you are doing here? She does not belong to you and you will not lay a hand on her." Tank voice was deep and scary. I noticed that Cal had come up next to Joe flanking him.

"I am a police officer and I am removing her from a dangerous situation that she does not seem to understand that she is in."

"That still does not give you permission to touch her or to handle her in such a way." Tank replied. "She belongs to the Panthers and we will protect what is ours." It was with that statement that I felt a tingle run down my spine. I turned my head to see, Ranger come walking into the diner, he took in the situation and when his eyes caught me, he quickly made his way to my side. I felt him wrap his arms around my waist as he pulled me into his chest.  
"Tank, stand down. I got this." He said still holding me, I placed my hand on Tank's back. I felt him relax. He nodded and then took two steps back standing directly behind us. "Morelli, what is going on here?"

"I was trying to get Steph out of here, when your men brought on their guard dog routine." The sarcasm in his voice was thick. Ranger was running his hand up and down my arm. I flinched when he reached the spot that Joe had grabbed forcefully. Ranger noticed this and turned me so that he could see my arm. He looked into my eyes.

"Who did this?" he asked. "Baby, tell me who did this to you? Who touch what is mine?"

"Joe grabbed my arm, he did not mean to hurt me, but he is just hearing what is going on and he was not happy about it." I answered.

"THAT DOES NOT GIVE HIM THE RIGHT" Ranger said in a raise voice. "He needs to understand that you belong to me, and I do not allow for anyone to touch what is mine." I could see Joe out of the corner of my eye, I could tell that he was pissed about what was coming out of Ranger's mouth.

"Wait a fucking minute, you get pissed at me for telling you that you cannot do this and yet you let him tell you that you are his possession."

"I am his." I said softly. I didn't think that anyone heard me, but Ranger pulled me closer to him and gave me a quick squeeze. He then kissed the top of my head. Ranger then turned his attention to Joe.

"Morelli, I understand that you and Steph are friends, and I would not even start to suggest that she could no longer be friends with you, but I would like for you to keep your hands to yourself from now on." Even I could tell that this was a threat. Joe nodded and then looked directly into my eyes, I could see the sorrow there that he had hurt me.

"Steph, I'm sorry. I lost my temper it will not happen again, I have to get back to work. Will you call me when you get a chance while you are gone?"

"I will, when there is time, I am sorry about everything." I said.

"Not your fault. I should know better by now." I nodded. Then gave him a hug. He whispered in my ear. "Be safe. Call me anytime, I will come get you if you need me too." I nodded. He then addressed Ranger. "Ranger, I am so sorry, it will not happen again, you have my word." Ranger nodded. I watched as Joe made his way out of the diner.

"Can I talk to you Babe?" Ranger asked. I nodded. "Guys we are going to head out, we have a few things to get before tomorrow. See you guys then." They both nodded.

"Bye guys" I said with a finger wave. Ranger then ushered me out of the diner, with his hand in the small of my back.

When we reached his bike. He spun me around so he could get a real good look at my arm.

"Does this hurt, Babe?" I nodded.

"Not a lot but yeah it hurts."

"I am glad that the guys were there, this could have been worse."

"Well if the guys had not been there, nothing would have happened. Joe was not happy about, the fact that I am going with you guys and even more so that I allowed you to mark me."

"Why?"

"He has tried several times to date me, and to make it serious, I never felt that it was right and we never make any further than a couple of dates before we look at each other and think we are crazy for even trying, I think that he wants more than he lets on." Ranger nods at this.

"Are you ready to do some shopping?" I nod, he climbs on the bike and I do the same behind him and we head off to shop.

TBC...


	8. The Journey Begins

**Hey guys, sorry about the delay in getting a new chapter out, it has been a very stressful week, not only at work, but also with family. My muse took a hit with all that is going on. I am hoping that with Thanksgiving coming this week that I will get some writing down on this story as well as Frenzy. So that we can put some major dent in the adventures.**

 **Thanks for sticking with me.**

 **Crys**

 **Enjoy.**

Chapter 8 The Next Morning

RPOV

After a full afternoon of shopping, Babe was ready for our trip, after discussing the fact that we would need to leave early in the morning and it would be easier for her to stay with me, so that we could spend the extra time loading up the bike with our stuff. We picked up some dinner on our back over to my small apartment, that I have for when I am here in town and need some privacy that when I am on the road, I don't often get. This trip may be different because I have my Babe, with me. Seeing that bruise on her arm, enraged me. I do not treat women like this and I won't allow someone that is associated with me at least in name to be treated that way either. While we had been shopping this afternoon, I could tell that Steph was still angry about what happened last night, and I was having an even harder time dealing with it. This possessiveness that I have been feeling since that woman had that mark placed on her body, is starting to scare me and I am not really sure, if it is something that will stop or even lessen and to be truthfully honest, I am not sure that I want it to stop.

After dinner we sat and talked about some of the things that would be going on over this trip, I told her that we would ride across country, stopping along the way and that it should take us a month or so to get to Cali. She was understanding in this and asked some simple questions about what things we would be doing and how long we would be stopping in each of those places. I smiled and told her that what we were doing would be a surprise for her and that she should really enjoy the ride as it was happening.

"It will be a surprise Babe, one that you will like, I think." She let out a big yawn. "Ready to go to bed, Babe?" She nodded and then yawned again. I stood and held out my hand to help her up. She immediately placed her hand in mine and pulled herself up.

"Where should I sleep? I don't want to kick you out of your bed, you are doing the driving tomorrow."

"Babe, you will be sleeping in my bed with me" the look of surprise was on her face as she took in my words. "We will be sharing a bed the whole time we are gone, it is part of the illusion that we have created. So we might as well start getting use to sleeping next to each other." She nodded her head. I pulled her towards my bedroom and showed her the bath, she took her leave and closed the door. I striped and climbed in bed waiting my turn in the bathroom. When she came out she was wearing my shirt that I had worn the day I met her. I smiled at her as she made her way over to the other side of the bed a slide in. I watched her for a few moments as she tried to get comfortable, before I made my way to the bathroom to get myself ready for sleeping. When I came back out a few minutes later she was fast asleep, and curled up with my pillow on my side of the bed. My scent is what made her get comfortable to go to sleep in an unknown place to her. Hmm interesting would have to remember that on this trip. I made my way to her side of the bed and climbed in, I may be a selfish bastard, but I'll be damned if I did not curl up right behind her and snuggle into curves and fall asleep.

The next morning, I woke to find myself pinned down to the bed, by the vivacious women that is currently sharing my bed, and our legs are intertwined her head resting on my shoulder and her arm thrown over my chest. I could feel my cock getting hard as she starts to wiggle. I sit there and enjoy the sensations that are running thru my body and my mind and she starts to moan. _'God, I hope that she is having a sex dream'_ I think to myself. I also really hope that I am the one that is in the sex dream with her. I know I am a sick man but, really if you had this sexy woman in your bed would you really not be thinking and hoping for that as well.

"Ranger" she moans oh so softly, and I feel her whole body shiver as she finds release in her dream. My dick could cut diamonds right now, and what it wants to do more than anything is bury itself in the woman lying next to me and make her scream out my name over and over again. DAMN! The next thing that I know her breathing has changed and she starts slowly rubbing her hand up and down my stomach getting ever so close to the pole of the tent that is a mere couple of inches away. She tenses as she realizes that I am not wearing anything and then she picks her head up.

"Ranger, do you realize that you are naked and in serious need of some alone time with Mr. Happy, right now?"

"Babe," my voice sounding husky and a couple of octaves lower than normal. "Did you have a nice dream?" I ask and then watch as she blushes. Now I want her more than ever.

"Oh my god" She clambers off the bed and runs to the en suite slamming the door behind her. I give my body a few moments to calm down before making my way over to the bathroom door.

"Babe, there is nothing to be embarrassed by, you had a sex dream in my bed, while you were practically on top of me, if anything I am the one that should be embarrassed, I was the one out here that had a hard on from listening to you." I lean my forehead against the door. "Babe?" I hear the lock disengage, and she opens the door and throws herself into my arms.

"I'm sorry" She says. I lean down and kiss her softly on the lips.

"It's okay, I am sorry as well, we should try to behave."

"I know that you keep saying that but it seems that our bodies have other things in mind." I nod. I understand that completely and I think that us trying to stop whatever this is between us is going to be a hard battle.

"Babe, we need to get ready and get the bike packed, we have like two hours before we meet the guys. Why don't you go shower and I will start the coffee" she nods and then turns and walks back into the bathroom. I make my way to the kitchen.

After both of were dressed and the apartment was cleaned up, we gathered up our stuff and headed down to load the bike. It had been a half hour of trying to get everything on the bike that we would need to take with us. I am beyond frustrated. I don't know how Bobby and Tank and their women manage to get all their stuff on their bikes all the time.

"Ranger, can we combine our stuff?" I looked up to see Steph standing there holding our toiletries bag. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because she then continued. "Like for instance do we both need to take a bottle of shampoo and body wash? Can I use yours and we take my shampoo and conditioner, then we can put the rest of what is in my bag in yours. Now we have one less bag to find a home for. We could do the same with our clothes and stuff." I nod.

"Babe, why didn't I think of that? It sounds like a plan." I kiss her temple and help her refold our stuff and make it fit in my bag amazingly the only things that did not fit were our extra boots. Which I tied the laces together and placed in the storage unit under the seat, then placed our bag on top of that. The side bags got things like her purse and my guns, along with a couple of extra bottles of water. The last thing that was packed was the sleeping bags and the pillows. She had rolled the pillows up in the bags so that they were a tight little roll. Amazing. We had just gotten back from depositing the extra items in the apartment, when I heard the roar of a couple of bikes pull up in the parking lot. I had asked Tank and Bobby to meet us before we met with others, so that I could introduce her to their women. "Babe, Tank and Bobby are here. I want you to meet a couple of the girls that ride with us. Can you take off your jacket until we get on the bike to ride?"

"Yeah, but why?"

"The guys are bringing their women with them and they are very protective of their men. They won't trust you at first and if they see that you are not just one of the groupies that hang with us they might…"

"Trust me." She said finishing my sentence.

"Exactly, if you had some friends other than me on this trip than it might make it easier for you." She nods. I hold out my hand for her to take, she slides her hand into mine a squeezes.

"It will be okay, Ranger, remember, I promised that I would follow your instruction, and I will keep that promise." I lean down and kiss her lips softly and sweetly, in which she returns. I close my eyes and savor the moment. We make our way down to the meet up with the guys.

Tank and Bobby were standing near my bike and staring at it like something was wrong.

"What is wrong guys?" I ask as I we approach.

"We were just trying to figure out how you got the two of you packed without adding any bags?" Tank said.

"Yeah, I mean when Jill started riding with us, I had to add two bags to my bike just to accommodate her stuff." This coming from Bobby. I just shook my head.

"Well, let's just say that Babe, here has some interesting ways to pack stuff that saves some space. Babe, this is Bobby and I believe that you have meet Tank." She nods.

"Nice to meet you Bobby and as a pleasure as always Tank." Tank smiled, I had to look twice to make sure that was what was happening, I have only seen this man smile twice and one was when he met Mona.

"Hey Ranger, why are we meeting here?" I heard from behind us. It was Mona, she was a spitfire and always had to know what was going on.

"Well Mona, I wanted you to meet Steph before we met up with the other guys."

"Who's Steph?" She asked as I turned so that they could see the woman cradled in my arms. "Ranger, if she is one of those groupies then we should just have met her with the rest of the guys, cause she isn't going to around for long, at least with you." This comment came out a little snarky and it was starting to piss me off. Steph placed her hand on my arm and rubbed her thumb back and forth along my arm. Steph then turned to face me, placing her head on my chest close to my heart. I heard gasps from behind her as they saw the marking on her shoulder. I smiled into her hair as I realized why Steph had turned like she did.

"Ranger, I am so sorry. Hi I am Jill, I belong to Bobby. This is Monica or Mona as we call her and she is Tank's Welcome to the club."

"It is so nice to meet you both. I was a little worried about how the others would react to me being here with Ranger."

"Don't worry about them, but I can totally tell you that they will be jealous that you bare his mark. I know of at least two of the groupies that have been trying to get that mark on them for years."

"Do you think that I will have much trouble with them?" She asked.

"No, girl those hoes know better than to mess with us and since you are one of us, we will have your back." I smiled knowing that these two would help protect her.

"Are you girls ready to hit the road?" Bobby asked. They all nodded.

"Steph, where is all of your stuff?" Jill asked.

"On the bike." She answered.

"No, fucking way. It took Tank and I like three months and we even had to add a couple of bags to the bike to fit all of our stuff on the bike." Mona said.

"Okay I want to see this." This from Jill. Steph lead the girls over to the bike and showed then how we had packed up everything.

"Man, you are a lucky bastard." Tank stood beside me. "She is priceless, if she can win over Jill and Mona, like that." I nodded. I gave the girls a few minutes and then we loaded up. I helped Babe into her jacket, she climbed on behind me. She pulled her body close to mine. I started the bike and we made our way to the park where we were meeting the rest of the guys.

We made it to the park a few minutes later, pulling in I could see that we were the last ones to arrive.

"What took you so long Ranger?" This was from Cal.

"I wanted the wives to meet Steph."

"Ranger, the wives?" Babe asked. I nodded.

"In this group when you are marked, like you are, it is almost as good as a wedding band"

"Oh my god, Ranger, why didn't you tell me this?"

"I did Babe, I just didn't tell you with those words." She gasps. "Babe, I told you that it would make you mine." She nods. I kiss her nose and help her off the bike. She gives a hug to Cal. "Men I would like you to meet, Steph, she will be joining us. Let's get ready to roll, you have 15 minutes." The men start checking their bags and securing anything that is loose. I turn and head back to my bike with Babe's hand in mine. When we are in sight of it, I see Genesis sitting on the back of my bike, we use to have a thing and occasionally she would ride with me. She is not marked, she does not belong with one group and I can't trust her.

"Why are you touching my bike?" I ask her rudely.

"Just getting it warmed up for our ride." She purrs back.

"Gen, get off my bike, you do not belong there."

"I seemed to belong there last year."

"Well, that was then." I answer back. Genesis must have just noticed Babe standing beside me.

"Oh, Honey, if you even think that you were going to ride with him, you are sorely mistaken. I have been the only one to ride with him."

"Well, I guess then, you should update your information" Babe says.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means that unless you want to end up with a fat lip you will get out of my seat and find someone to ride with."

"Bitch please, you know damn well that you have no right to claim something that is not yours."

"I have every right to claim it, this is my man's bike and he his mine." She turns to slide her jacket off. "And I am his." I growl at this statement.

"You fucking marked her. I have been trying for years to get that mark, and you gave it away to her?" By this point Genesis is yelling.

"Well maybe that was what your problem was you were trying, maybe even trying to hard." Steph quips back. At this point Jill and Mona and Bobby and Tank are standing behind us.

"What's the matter Gen, jealous, that Steph here has something that you will never have?" Jill says.

"Like I would ever want to be a wife. You two are pathetic. Sleeping with the same man night after night."

"That completely contradicts what you just said about wanting to get Ranger's mark."

"Nice" This is from Mona. Genesis huffs and climbs down off my bike and tries to stomp off.

"Men, Genesis is not to ride with us. She does not wear the mark."

"What the fuck Ranger, you telling us that unless the women bear the panther that they cannot ride with us?"

"This trip, yes."

"Well, then you should kiss your little woman goodbye" This comes from Lester.

"No I will not, she bears my mark. Babe, will you please enlighten the men." She nods and slips her jacket off her body laying it on the bike and then turns so that the men can see that she not only bears the panther, but she is also mine.

"Let's ride." Tank voice booms and we all make our way to our bikes, the roar of the bikes echo across the park. I help Babe, back into her jacket. She climbs on the bike and then I follow. I start up my Harley and pull out of the parking lot and on the highway, that runs along the park.

TBC...


	9. On the Road

**Thanks everyone for the reviews, I have noticed that a few of you have reference Sons of Anarchy, believe it or not I have never seen an episode of the show, always heard good things. BUT anyway on with the story.**

Chapter 9 On the Road

SPOV

After the confrontation in the park, I was glad that we all had some time to cool off before we all had to interact with each other. The tension was very high and the time that we were riding would be greatly appreciated on my part. This was not how I wanted to the trip to start, but I guess that could not be avoided now. After we were traveling for about 2 hours, we pulled off, the highway and started to take some back roads, this road went through what I thought was a small forest but ended up being an orchard.

"Oh my god, Ranger, this is gorgeous." I yelled to him.

"Babe" was his only response. After another hour of travel we came up to a small farm house that was on the edge of the orchard. The guys started pulling off towards the barn. I felt Ranger run his hand up my thigh.

"Babe, hold on it is going to get bumpier"

"Okay" and tighten my thighs around his legs and my arms around his waist. His grip on my thigh tighten for a moment and then he released and grabbed onto his handle bar.

Once we made it towards the barn, I noticed that there was actually stalls inside and the guys started parking their bikes in a stall. Ranger rode down towards the end where there was larger stalls next to the one that Tank and Mona had taken, Bobby and Jill had also taken one of these as well. It left one stall left, Lester and Cal took this one as it was the only one left.

"Babe, let's get unpack and changed, we have work to do."

"What kind of work Ranger?"

"We are here to help the Colonel bring in the harvest. We help him every year, especially since the missus passed a few years ago." I nodded and help Ranger unpack the bags and set up the stall, so that when we were ready to turn in for the night we could just slip in and fall asleep. Ranger pulled me into his arms as we finished and slammed his lips down on mine. "Thanks Babe."

"For what?" I panted out, and he just shook his head and kissed my forehead. He grabbed my hand and headed to main area of the barn.

"Gentleman, you know what we are here for, you know why we do this, you know that without our help that the harvest could not be brought in fast enough." Around the barn you could hear 'hell yeahs' and 'yes sir' you could also see the bobbing of heads by each of the men and women in the room.

"ATTENTION" was heard above the noise in the barn towards the entrance. All the men stood straight at attention lining the perimeter of the barn an older gentleman, tall and had a that salt and pepper look around his ears, limped gently down the middle of the room, favoring his left leg as he walked headed towards where Ranger and I were standing. He smiled as he saw me. "Manoso"

"Sir"

"New recruit?"

"No Sir, this is my woman, Stephanie." He turned towards me and smiled.

"Someone finally tamed the wild Manoso, and it could not have been a better looking woman, Ma'am you must be one hell of a spitfire." I giggled. "Yep, knew it spitfire." He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed me. He then turned and directed his attention to Tank. "Tank, the apples are ready and so are the sunflowers, divided your men and lets bring in this harvest." Tank nodded and then addressed the men.

"Babe, the trees or the fields?" I thought about it for a moment.

"Can we do both?" he raised his eyebrow at me. "Well, I love to climb trees, but I also would like to pick the sunflowers as well." I said with an almost glee in my voice. He nodded and then told Tank that we would start in the fields. Tank nodded and then turned his attention towards the other men in the room. Ranger grabbed my hand and pulled me along after him. He walked out of the barn and down a small path the opened up into the biggest field of sunflowers that I have ever seen. I stood there in amazement as I looked over the field. Ranger squeezed my hand.

"You okay there Babe?"

"Yeah, just I have never seen anything this beautiful before."

"Come on it is even more amazing once you are in the fields, I'll show you." He pulled me down the small hill before we marched right into the sunflowers, the flowers were taller than Ranger by a good foot. We walked for what seemed like forever, till we found the other side. There sitting on the edge of the field were a couple of boxes of tools and gloves that would be needed to bring in the harvest. We each grabbed a pair of gloves and what looked like and ice pick. He then pulled me back into the field. We walked to about half way and each chose a different row. That way we could work side by side.

After a couple of hours of working silently, Ranger stood up and looked at me.

"Babe, tell me something about you that no one else knows?" I stood and looked at him with shock in my eyes. "Don't be shocked, we are going to be spending a lot of time together and it would be nice to know the woman, who is mine." He said with a smirk on his face.

"I will tell you mine if you tell me yours" I said back to him. Now it was his turn to look shocked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"If I am going to be telling you all of my deep dark secrets, than you have to do the same, I want to get to know you just as much as you want to know me." He nodded "Was that a yes."

"Yeah, Babe it was"

"Well, when I lost my virginity.."

"Babe, I said that no one knows"

"No one knows this, except the person who took it, Jeanne" Ranger kept working he got to his third stalk before he stopped and the slowly turned.

"Are you telling me that you lost your virginity to a girl?" I nodded. Ranger dropped the stalk in his hand and his tool and within three strides swept me into his arms. "That is so fucking hot" he whispered and then slammed his lips down on mine and proceeded to kiss the living daylight out of me. When the need to breath became necessary, he pulled back and rested his forehead on mine, if we were not in a fucking field right now I would so take you hard and fast right now. That is the hottest thing that I have ever heard. So was that you only experience into lesbianism?"

"No, we dated for like a year, before she left for college. So there you have it my deep dark secret. Your turn."

"Well since you shared. After a really bad mission, I needed relief, in a manner you know where a woman would have been good." I nodded that I understood. "It was just Tank, Bobby, Lester and I, we all went out and got really drunk and when we got back to our room we were all hard and really horny, Lester sank to his knees in front of Tank and pulled out his cock and started sucking it. Things, uh, progressed from there. The next morning we all woke up and swore that we would never tell anyone what had happened, but we had repeated that scene a few times over our military careers as a way to keep sane and safe." I nodded and then turned and went back to work. He followed my lead and didn't say anything else. After about 30 minutes, I stopped and turned to him, he didn't notice that I had stopped, I reached out to touch his arm. He pulled away from me. "Don't, I should have never told you. I will get you a ticket to get you home, I don't think that this will work, if you can't even come up with words about what I shared with you. This is why I don't claim woman as mine, because it always." He stopped talking and with that he went back to work. I kept working, but now I was mad. I threw the pick thingy on the ground and marched after him. I grabbed him by the neck and slammed my lips down on his. When I pulled away, I pressed my forehead to his.

"You are not getting away that easy, I didn't know what to say, it wasn't that I think less of you or that I find you disgusting. Ranger, I'm…" I realized what I was about to say and the slapped my hand over my mouth and ran out of the field towards the barn. I made it all the way to the barn and into the stall that we were in before the tears fell, I was about to tell a man that I have only known for like a week that I was falling in love with him. I sat there leaning against the wall, knees bent into my chest crying.

"Baby, you're what?" Ranger asked timidly from the door of the stall. I shook my head and left my head buried in my knees. Ranger walked over and knelt down in front of me. "Baby, please tell me, I need to hear you say it." He place his fingers under my chin and lifted it so I was looking into his eyes. "Please, Baby tell me?" he said just above a whisper.

"I can't tell you, this isn't supposed to happen, I was supposed to ride with you and do what I came here to do, not." I closed my mouth and buried my head again. Ranger picked me up and cradled me in his arms and let me bury my face in his neck. The tears were still rolling down my face when he spoke.

"Baby" then he stopped. He kissed the top of my head and stayed there holding me, when I finally raised my head, I noticed that it was starting to get dark out.

"Ranger, we should head back to everyone else, before they come looking for us?"

"Baby" He stopped for a minute like he was going to say something else and then continued "your right we should go find out what is for dinner" I nodded and stood and helped him up. He gathered me in his arms, "I want to know what the end of those sentence are, but I am not push you, when you are ready, I will be here to tell you." I nodded

"Thanks, Ranger." I took a step out of his arms and the extended my hand for him to grab. He did and we made our way up to the main house to find out what was for dinner.

TBC...


	10. In the Barn

Chapter 10 In the Barn

RPOV

After I found Steph, and we talked, we walked over to the main house where dinner was being served. The General's staff had made a wonderful feast of BBQ and fresh veggies on the grill. It has been a long time since I had eaten a meal that good, the best part was watching Babe eat. The noises that woman make when she is eating could bring a man to his knees. When that little tidbit was pointed out to her she blushed and buried her head in my shoulder. I felt like a fucking king when she did that. After dinner we all sat around a bonfire and shared stories, I could see Babe making note of some of these stories in her head for the assignment that she is on. She listened to the stories like a child listens to a book being read to them. Wonderment in her eyes the whole time.

Now I am laying here in our stall, listening to her sleep, I can hear a Bobby and Jill are having a little fun before they go to sleep, and I can hear Lester jacking off. That man is just wired wrong. I roll to my side to look at Babe, she is curled up in a ball and looks to be cold. I pull myself up from my bag and the scoot it closer to hers. I then unzip my bag and then hers, when I lift the covers off of her, she opens her eyes and looks up to me.

"What are you doing, Ranger?" She asks.

"Shh, Babe, I am just joining our bags, you looked cold, this way, and we can share body heat." She nods. I the hook the zippers of our bags together and make one big bag. I slid into the bag and then hold open the bag for her, she climbs in next to me. She stays on her side of the bag away from me, but I notice that she is no longer cold and she then relaxes and falls asleep. I lay there thinking about all of the things that she was saying today, all of those damn sentences that she would not finish. I really want to know what they are and I am really hoping that they are what I think that they are. I am just getting comfortable enough to fall asleep when my bag mate rolls over and curls up to my side. I raise my arm and she places her head on my shoulder and then her hand rests over my heart. Her leg slides between mine, when she finally settles, she hums,

"Thanks, Ranger."

"Babe" and with that she falls instantly asleep and with a kiss to her head and whiff of her shampoo and I finally drift off in to the land of nod.

The morning light brings me out of sleep to find myself in the same position I fell asleep in, and the warm body next to me fits so perfectly, that my little solider stands up and takes notice of her curves and her warmth.

"Good morning Ranger." She kisses my neck. "Good morning little Ranger" she whispers.

"Babe" I growl "Nothing about him is little" she giggles and then wiggles herself closer to me. "You are playing with fire" I growl to her as a warning. She continues to wiggle. So I flip her onto her back and hover over her. "Baby, please." I whisper to her. She moans. I slam my lips down on hers and kiss the daylights out of her. My hands decide that they need to roam her body. Hers seem to be doing the same thing. We let our bodies do the talking as we continue to kiss and explore. We are moments away from ripping each other's clothes off, when I hear the stall door open and a throat clear.

"Can you two please, find somewhere else to do that, you are making all of the men out here hard and you need to get up anyway, because it is time for breakfast and another day of harvesting. " This coming from Tank. I groan and lay my head down on her shoulder.

"Baby, we better get up?" She nods, but when I try to pull away from her, she pulls me back to her. "Baby?"

"Why is it that you call both Babe and Baby?"

"I call you Babe, when we are around others, but I want to call you something that only you and I know that I call you that, and that is why I call you Baby, when it is just us." I lean in and give her a sweet kiss to her lips.

"Ranger?" Then she stopped. I leaned back down and gave her another kiss on the lips this one more demanding than the previous one.

"Come on Babe, let's go get dressed and get some food." I say as I climb out of the bag.

"Will there be coffee?" was her only response.

"Of course, the General never starts his day without it." I say as I slip back into my jeans and gather my stuff for a shower.

After breakfast, we made our way to the orchard, I handed Babe her harness. She looked at me funny for a moment.

"It is so that in case you fall, you don't hurt yourself." She nods and then takes the harness from my hand. I watch as she slips the harness on and then she starts walking off in the orchard. I quickly grab a stack of baskets and follow her down the path.

"So are we working in the same tree?" She asks after a while. I nod. She then stops and climbs a tree that appears to have a tree full of apples in it. I watch in amazement as she ascends the tree with little effort.

"I have never seen anyone be able to climb that tree without the truck backed up to it." The General says as he walks up to me. "Not even you." I just shake my head and then walk over to the tree and climb it just like my Babe did. I find her towards the top of the tree in a branch that would not hold my weight. Tank hands up a couple of baskets, I attach one to a clip on the line that is tied to the biggest branch on the tree and then look up at my Babe.

"Babe, hand me the apples as you pick them, I will place them in the basket and we can then lower it down to Tank." She nods and then starts picking apples, some she hands down to me others she tosses lightly. I get one basket full and lower it down and then fill the other up before I bring up anymore. Within a couple of hours the tree is down to just a couple apples that were wither rotted or not ripe enough to pick. She easily climbs down the tree and waits with a smile for me to do the same and then makes her way to the next tree.

"I told you that I like to climb." She says over her shoulder. The next tree if larger and it will take us both to complete it before lunch.

"Babe"

"Yes, Ranger" she quips back.

"Tell me something about you that I do not know?"

"Didn't we try this yesterday?"

"Yes, but this time I want to know just something about you" I can see her higher in the tree with her basket hanging from the harness. She stops working and looks down at me. I can tell that she is thinking about what she is going to say. The emotions and thoughts cross her face and through her eyes.

"When I was a kid, I jumped off the garage trying to fly, and for about a second I felt a freedom that I had never felt or have felt since that moment."

"How bad were you hurt, Babe?"

"I broke my arm, then after I got my cast off, I tried again, and then broke my leg. That was the last time I tried to fly. I having to get pins in your legs hurts like a bitch and I had to wear that cast most of the summer. It was horrible." I nodded. "Same question?"

"When I was a little boy, I wanted to be Batman." I looked up at her and she was smiling that amazing smile of hers.

"You wanted to be Batman huh?" I nodded. "What did you just like bats or did you want the cool gadgets?"  
"I wanted the gadgets" She laughed.

"So you are a gadget man?"

"Babe, I don't need gadgets to make my woman purr like a kitten in satisfaction" I growled at her. She laughed again and then slowly climbed down to where I was sitting.

"Maybe sometime you could prove it to me." She kissed my neck. "That you don't need gadgets and that you could make me purr." I growled and then slammed my lips down on hers pushing her into the trunk of the tree.

"Come on you two, can we please hurry the lunch bell will be ringing soon." Tank bellowed below us.

"Leave them alone, they are in love" Mona said giving him a kiss on his lips calming the beast. Babe looked at me in shock and with her eyes she asked me the question, I knew that she wanted to know the answer to. I leaned into her and whispered in her ears.

"Baby, say the words and I will make you mine, all you have to do is trust that I will not break your heart, that I will love you." She looked at me with tears in her blue eyes. "Baby, tell me please, Baby tell me that you love me, that you want to be mine. Please" I didn't care if I was begging I had fallen for this woman. I wanted her to be mine, and dammit it was getting harder and harder for her not to be mine. She wiped the tears from her eyes and climbed the tree, started picking apples again. We worked next to each other for another hour before the tree was picked over. She lowered her full basket down and then climbed down herself. Before I could get out of the tree she was already headed down the path back to the main house, talking animatedly with Mona and Jill. I was watching her walk as I helped load up the last of the baskets into the truck, she glanced over her shoulder at me and smiled. I felt relief wash over my body, knowing that we were still okay and that she would talk to me later. Tank and I headed back to the house following the truck. My mind was completely on Steph and what was going on in my heart.

"You have fallen hard for her, haven't you?" Tank asked.

"Yes." We made the rest of the trip to the house, without another word.

Back at the house, I saw Babe, sitting at the table talking with the girls. When I walked into her sight line she smiled and waved me over to her. I made my way to her.

"I made you a plate so that you did not have to wait in line." I gave her chaste kiss and then sat down next to her.

"Thanks, Babe." She smiled and then gave me peck back. We sat there eating and talking with the guys and the girls at the table with us, before we had a little bit of free time before we headed out the next morning. I wanted some time with Steph before we headed on to the next place and I knew the perfect spot.

TBC...

 **In my head, I am chanting 'say it , say it say it' but stick with me, it getting a little angsty isn't.**

 **But good news the 100th reviewer, will get to know what the special detail in the tattoo is before everyone else. So go ahead hit that button I know that you are dying to know. (insert evil laugh here) PS I don't write for reviews, but I appreciate them so please don't think that I am only trying to get more reviews. I just thought that it would be fun. I hope that you enjoyed.**

 **Crys**


	11. The Walk

Chapter 11 The Walk

SPOV

Working this morning with Ranger was different than yesterday, I did not know if it was because I was in a tree feeling free or that something between us had changed. The story telling from us was different today then our previous conversation had been. Which I found nice and relaxing, hearing that he had wanted to be Batman made my heart melt a little bit more. Teasing him about the gadgets was by far the highlight of my day so far. The look in his eye was dangerous and at the same time very sexy. I climbed down the tree to tease him some more and it what happened was beyond my ability to hide at the moment so I removed myself from it. He had practically begged me to say that I loved him and that I wanted to be his and, me so desperately wanting to say it back to him and I might have if we had not been in a tree. When the tree was cleanly picked, I lowered down my basket and then climbed down the tree. I walked back to the main house with the girls not trusting myself to be alone with Ranger just yet. The girls were talking about how they could never get as high as I was getting in the trees since they were afraid that they would fall. I started telling them about the amazing views that you could see when you are that high in the tree and how you could feel like the only person for miles around. I felt like someone was watching me, but I also thought I knew who it was. I looked over my shoulder to see Ranger watching me. I threw him a smile and then continued talking with the girls.

Once we got back to the house, I could see that they had just started lunch and that our guys had stayed behind to finish picking up the baskets that were strewn about.

"Hey why don't we make a plate for the guys, so that they don't have to stand in line since they stayed behind to pick up the last of the baskets?"  
"That is a great idea, Steph." So we made our plates and plates for Ranger, Bobby and Tank. A few minutes later I felt a tingle run up my spine, I turned to see Ranger coming up the hill from the orchard. I smiled and waved him over to me. I watched in stride over to me.

"I made you a plate so that you did not have to wait in line." He leaned in gave me a chaste kiss on the lips. Then he sat down next to me and thanking me, I gave him a smile and a peck on the lips. We then continued on with eating and talking with those that shared our table.

"Babe, do you want to take a walk with me after lunch?" Ranger asked me.

"I would love too" I answered. Ranger grabbed my hand and squeezed under the table.

Once lunch was done and we had helped cleaned up. Ranger grabbed my hand as I was talking to the girls about this and that.

"Sorry ladies, but I am going to have to steal her away from you all now."

"Of course Ranger, steal her away." Jill answered. "We better go find that guys anyway."

"Bye Mona, Jill I will see you later on." They both nodded and then headed off to find their men. "Where are we headed Ranger?"

"You will see." I nodded and let him lead me away. We walked down a small path behind the house that went past the barn, but not towards the sunflower field that we were in yesterday. We did not talk just strolled along following the path. We came to an opening that looked over a small pond. I gasped at the sight. "I knew that you would like this place Babe."

"It is gorgeous, Ranger. How did you know that it was here?"

"The General's late wife, planted this garden here. She was buried on the island in the pond. This spot has so much meaning and love that goes in to it. The General keeps up the work on the garden as a way to keep in touch with his love." He reached up and wiped the tears away from my cheek. "You always seem to cry when I am near you." I shook my head.

"I do not mean to cry, but sometimes you say some of the sweetest things."

"Like what?"

"Like, about this garden and how the General still keeps it as a vow to his love for his late wife."

"What else?"

"This morning when you were asking me to say those words to you, you were practically begging me."

"Baby, I was begging you" he whispered to me. Then he pulled me down on to the bench next to him. "Baby, I don't know what to do here, this was just supposed to be me repaying a favor, and now it is like my heart and my mind are battling to see who will be triumph. I want you, but I understand if you do not want to be with me. This is just supposed to be an assignment, work and nothing more. But I need you to know that seeing that mark on your body, and that you were marked as mine has changed something in me, it makes me want things that I have never wanted before."

"Yeah, but does that mean that you want that with just any woman?"

"NO, I want it with you." He growled at me.

"Is that why you put the Wonder Woman emblem in the panther's furs in my tattoo?" I asked.

"No, I wanted you to have something that reminded you of what you are, you said that you always wanted to be Wonder Woman, I think that you already are." He kissed my nose.

"Ranger"

"Yeah Baby?"

"I want you to make…."

"Say it Babe, say it say you want to be mine" he whispers to me. And that is when I heard the clearing of a throat.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there is a phone call for Steph." Mona looking hesitant to interrupt.

"Mona it is okay." Ranger says as he gets up to let me take the phone call.

"Ranger" he turns and smiles. I give him a look of longing and a sad smile.

"We can finish this later, Babe." I nod knowing that he wanted me to say the words and they were there on the tip of my tongue. We had been interrupted again. Today was not our day.

"Thanks, Mona", I said as I took the phone. "Hello"

"Steph"

"Yeah, Tom it is me."

"How is it going?"

"Well, we are at a small farm in the Pennsylvania country-side."

"Good to hear, everything going okay?"

"So far, I had a small run in with a woman, who was trying to lay claim to my source, but she was set straight, and I think it will cause some conflict with some of the men down the road, but I think that it will be okay and I will be safe, the protocols that are in place to keep me safe are working."

"I am glad to hear that you are safe. Just wanted to check in with you for the week. I will try you back if I have not heard from you on Sunday."

"I am looking forward to it."

"Well, Steph, talk to you soon."

"Bye Tom." I then disconnect the call. I went looking for Ranger so that we could finish our conversation, but when I did he was in a deep conversation with the General, and I decided that we could talk later, we were leaving in the morning.

As I climbed into the sleeping bag, I still had not talked to Ranger and when I tried, he or I would get dragged off by someone wanting to speak with us. So now I was going to bed without having resolved our conversation and our minds, but the day had been long and tomorrow was looking to a long one as well. So I settled myself down and tried to get some sleep.

I must have dozed off because Ranger woke me when he finally came to bed.

"Go back to sleep Babe, it is late."

"Where were you?" I asked groggily.

"Planning out the route for tomorrow with Tank, Bobby and Lester." I nodded and then rolled over and placed my head in the crook of his shoulder. "Baby, I missed you today." He whispered in my ear as he nuzzled my neck.

"I missed you too." I purred as he nipped on my neck and ear.

"I really want to finish our conversation, but we need to sleep, we have an early morning if we are going to make it to our next stop before dark."

"Ranger?"  
"Yeah Baby."

"Good night" That was not what I really wanted to say, but I understood that we needed to sleep and that if I said those words that we would still be up when the sun came up again. He leaned down and kissed me, it was laced with lust and love and passion, and he slipped his tongue in my mouth and sucked on my tongue. I moaned into his mouth and he pulled me closer.

"Baby, I can't wait till we get to finish that conversation, I want to know what you were going to say. It is killing me, that we were interrupted, but Baby, when we are along tomorrow, I want you to say what you were going to say." I nodded that I understood what he was saying. "Get some sleep, Baby. I will see you in the morning"

"Good night Ranger." He pulled me so that I was comfortable and warm, and then I drifted off to sleep.

TBC...


	12. On Ward Ho

Chapter 12 On Ward Ho

RPOV

Yesterday, we were so close and yet and the same time so far. If we had not be interrupted, I knew she would have said those words. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent trying to get back to each other only for something to stop us. When I finally climbed in the sleeping bag with her, it was way too late for us to continue, but I wanted to, so after kissing her good night and letting her know that we would finish, we went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke with the sun and took a shower and started packing the bike up, I could hear the guys start to wake and so I decided that it was time to wake my Babe.

"Baby, it is time to wake up, we have to get on the road soon." She rolled over on to her back and then opened her sleepy eyes and looked at me.

"Hi"

"Hi, Baby." I helped her up before giving her a cup of coffee and then sending her on her way to get cleaned up. I separated the sleeping bags and then placed them in the bike. We were almost ready to roll, by the time that she got back. I took her spare boots out of the seat storage and before taking her others out and hosing them down to clean off all of the sap and mud from the last couple of days work. I was now glad that we had bought her two pairs of boots. I placed the now clean but kind of wet boots back in the bike and pushed the bike out of the barn. She was carrying her clothes from yesterday towards me and she was smiling.

"How much longer till we need to head out?"

"About a half hour."

"Not enough time huh?" I shook my head. She nodded. Then wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head on my chest. I wanted to stay just like this all day. The guys made their way out of the barn slowly, we were waiting on Bobby and Jill to finish up packing. Babe went back in and helped them figure out what was wrong and within 10 minutes we were on our way. I did the man hug thing with the General and we headed out back to the highway.

Once back on the highway, Babe laid her head down on my back and pulled herself closer.

"Baby, you are playing with fire" I said into the throat mic. She giggled.

"I am just trying to get a little closer" she quips back to me.

"Baby, you can get as close as you want." And then she scoot just a little closer. I must have moaned because she then purred. "Baby, I am trying to not kill us here."

"Sorry" She said sheepishly. She must have blushed. I smiled at the thought of making her blush.

At lunch time we stopped in Ohio, and ate a small dinner in a small interstate town, I could tell that she was sore.

"Babe, are you a little sore?" She nodded. "That is to be expected. I still get sore after long rides like the one we are doing today. I will rub you down later." She blushed. "Do you know how fucking sexy you are when you do that?"

"No, but I bet you can tell me." She quipped. I rubbed her ass tenderly as I knew that she would need some of that relieved before she got back on the bike. She purred in my arms as I rubbed her backside.

"Fuck Baby, we need some time alone." She just smiled at me.

"Let's roll" Tank voice said over us. "That means you two as well."

"Har, har, har," She said sticking out her tongue at Tank.

"Saw that Little Girl". He quipped back at her. She climbed on the bike and waited for me to join her. Then we were off again. A few hours later we were pulling into our destination of Greensburg, Indiana, we made our way through town and pulled off at an interstate motel, I pulled into the spot nearest the office and climbed off.

"Babe, I am going to go get us, all checked in and then we can get settled for the night." She nods "Why don't you walk around a little and then stretch it will help." She nods her head and then I kiss her forehead. I then make my way over to the office. Checking in at the motel office, took way longer than expected, by the time I had escaped, most of the crew was at the all night diner eating, and this is where I found my Babe sitting at the edge of the round booth that Jill, Mona, Bobby and Lester had occupied. Just as I started walking towards the booth, she looked up and smiled up at me. It was the most brilliant smile, when I got to where she was, I cupped her face with my hands and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Babe"

"Ranger" she scooted over far enough to allow me into the booth and Mona did the same for Tank. We were a little crowded, but we made it work. "I ordered you a chicken sandwich, grilled with extra veggies." she says with a smile.

"Thanks, Babe." Just then the waitress walked up and placed our orders down on the table. She gave a small smile and then disappeared, as quickly as she came. We were all quiet for a little while as we all investigated our plates, but then the boys started to share stories from our days in the Army and all of the stupid things that we would get ourselves into. Babe, looked on and listened, she would ask questions when something would not make complete sense. "I will be right back" She nodded and then continued to listen to the stories.

As I was walking up to the table after going to the head, I heard.

"So there he is three sheets to the wind, and still managing to pick up three girls to take back to the room with us."

"Santos." I say, they all look up at me. Anger is radiating off of me. I look at my Babe, and she has a look to her face. I am not sure what it is, but at this moment I want to get her some place where we can talk about what that emotion on her face and in her eyes is. I throw some bills on the table to cover the bill, for the table and then I grab her hand. "Come on Babe, let's go back to the room. Men, I will see you in the morning." They all nod there head and I start to walk off, pulling my Babe behind me. When we make it to the bike, she pulls her hand away from me.

"Ranger?"

"Babe?"

"I think that maybe…"

"Please Baby, please, don't finish that sentence" I know that I am very close to begging, but I can see the pain in her eyes. That was the emotion that she was trying to hide. She turns away from me for a moment.

"Let's just get our stuff and get settled." She says as she turns back to me. I nod my head. We unpack the bike and lock up what we will not need for the night. She picks up our boots and one of our bags, which leaves me the guns and the other bag. I head off towards our room, when I get to just outside of the room. I turn to her, she just stares back at me. Fuck, he just had to tell that damn story. I turn back to the door and open it for her. She walks past me and sets the bags down, she then opens the bag and starts gathering what she will need for a shower and to get ready to sleep. She is half way to the bathroom.

"Baby, I thought that maybe now would be a good time to finish that conversation, we started." She turns to face me.

"I don't think that we should, while you were in the bathroom, I heard a few stories about the man that you really are and I am not sure that I want to tie myself to someone that can…." She did not finish her thought she just turned back to the bathroom and locked herself within. I sat heavily on the bed. I think that we just ended a relationship before it ever had time to flourish.

"Fuck" I yell out. I start pacing, trying to figure out what I can do to fix this, I can't lose this girl. I continued to pace for the next thirty minutes. I decided to check on her, the measly lock on the door, is like child's play. Once I had the door open, I heard the most devastating sound to my heart, body wracking sobs were coming out from behind the curtain. Without realizing it I was in the shower pulling the sobbing beauty into my arms. She at first resisted then she started to fight me.

"Stephanie it does not matter how much you push and fight me right now, I am not letting you go."

"I love you." She whispers so softly, that I barely heard it.

"Baby?"

"I love you, and now my heart is breaking hearing those stories about you and the life that you have lived, it scares me, to know that I want you to claim me, but at the same time I don't want to be treated like that ever. I want you like I have never wanted some one in my life.

"Oh Baby" I then slammed my lips down on hers and lifted her into my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I pushed her against the wall.

 **Sorry that it has been so long, since I have posted the last month has been busy. I am hoping that with the new year that I will get back on a better schedule of writing.**

 **PS I have never been to Greensburg, IN so everything is my imgination except the name that is real.**

 **Crys**


	13. Chapter 13 I Love You

**I have been so bad about getting this updated, my muse would not work with me, I ended up rewriting this chapter a few times, before I found the direction that felt right for this story. I hope that you enjoy!**

Chapter 13 I Love You

SPOV

The moment that I closed the bathroom door, I knew that I was going to start crying, I started the water on the tub and let the tears roll down my checks. I sat there and listened to the stories of the man that I was falling hopelessly in love with. Hell who I am kidding I am already in love with him and I do not want to lose him, but I need to know that the man in those stories is not the same man that has made an appearance since I have met him except that one night that I got my tat. The thought about my tattoo is what sends me into the body wracking sobs. Moments later I feel the shower curtain open and then I feel arms wrap around my body. I am fighting him because I do not feel safe yet and my emotions are all over the place. But he just pulls me closer and then whispers to me

"Stephanie it does not matter how much you push and fight me right now, I am not letting you go." I can tell that he means what he is saying that he was not letting me go. I can feel my body start to relax.

"I love you." I whisper out barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Baby?" he whispers back. The tears start to roll down my cheeks as I feel my heart pound against my chest. I take a deep breath and then say.

"I love you, and now my heart is breaking hearing those stories about you and the life that you have lived, it scares me, to know that I want you to claim me, but at the same time I want you like I have never wanted another person in my life." I take a shuttering breath.

"Oh Baby" he says before his lips slam down on mine and he lifts me into his arms. I instinctual wrap my legs around his waist as he pushes me against the wall. This is the first time that I notice that he is fully clothed. When the need to breathe made us break apart our kiss. He leans his forehead against mine and gasps as he tries to catch his breath, I am not doing much better. "I love you, Baby, and I want you to be mine, but I also think that we need to spend some time getting to know each other. Let our minds and our bodies get to use to the idea that our hearts have." He leaned in a gently kissed me. He reached over and turned the now tepid water off and opened the curtain, never losing the grip he had of me and then turns and wraps a towel around my body.

"Your clothes are all wet" I say meekly.

"Baby, I don't care if my clothes are wet, I could not stand the sound of you crying and not being in my arms. I just wanted to comfort you and hold you and make everything okay. Dry off and go climb in bed I will be there in a minute." I nodded and then turned on my heels and made my way into the room. I dried my hair and put some leave in conditioner in my hair and the stripped off the towel and climbed into bed. I left my pj's in the bag. A few moments later, Ranger came out with just a towel wrapped around his waist, I was dazzled by the water droplets on his chest.

"I hate cold showers" he was muttering to himself.

"I could warm you up" I said huskily catching his attention. He turned to face me and then smiled when he saw me in bed with the sheet at my waist it had fallen when I sat up and watched the water droplets dance on his chest.

"I bet you could Baby, I bet you could" and then he dropped the towel, I was lost in the fantastic view that was before me. My mind went completely blank as my eyes skimmed over his body. When I finally made it to his prized possession between his legs, I felt myself gulp with desire and lust. His cock was standing tall and proud and it was the biggest and thickest thing that I have ever seen. "See something that you like?" he asked as his wolf grin made and appearance.

"Y….es." I said. He stalked towards me. I felt a shiver of pleasure run through my body. Ranger slide into the bed and pulled my body closer to him as he cupped my ass in his hands, his dick pushed closer to the promise land.

"I want.." he paused. Then he looked up into my eyes. I saw him take a deep breath and gather courage. This man has appear nothing but confident the entire time that I have known him, but no here in the intimacy of the moment do I feel that he feels his confidence shaken. "I want to make love to you, can I?" I lean forward with a gentle kiss.

"Ranger, I want you to make me yours, claim me." And with that his control snapped. He rolled me over onto my back and kissed me with passion and lust, but there was also something very primal. I knew that it would be best if I just held on and enjoyed the ride. I was brought out of my thoughts when I felt him push himself inside of me.

"Stay with me Baby, I need to feel you hear." He said as he thrust in and out of me. It was slow at first, I was lavishing in the feel of him. We were both clawing at each other and climbing higher and higher. The higher that we climbed the more frantic that his movements became. He would bring me to the edge and then back off and slow down. I was so close. "Baby when you cum it will be with me, we will go together." The tears were back in my eyes as I nodded my head and looked deep into his eyes and the passion and the love that were there. It was in that moment that I felt a change. I could not describe what had happened, but I knew in that moment that I could not go back and that this was the only man that I would be able to love like this. "Baby cum with me." Ranger roared out. So I did.

Then next morning, when I woke, it was to an empty bed. I frowned. I climbed out of bed and made my way to the bathroom, where I answered Mother Nature and then took a quick shower. After my shower, I dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt and grabbed my boots, I then started packing my bags and making sure that everything was gathered from around the room. I took all of the dirty laundry and headed over to the small coin op laundry room on the first floor. When I made it there, I spotted Mona and Jill, doing the same thing that I was planning on doing.

"Good morning Ladies"

"Good morning Steph, did you and Ranger work everything out?" Mona asked. I nodded and started a load in the empty washer. "We are glad that you are here."

"Why?" I asked curious as to why.

"Well we need to wash the rest of the guy's laundry"

"Why aren't the guys washing their own laundry?" both girls started giggling.

"Oh Honey, those men do not wash their own clothes. They would rather wear dirty then do wash clothes."

"Wait so the guys expect you to wash their clothes just because you are women?"

"God, no, otherwise the gang girls could take care of it."

"Why are they not here?"

"They are sleeping off whatever they were up to last night?" I nodded.

"Well that stops today, if they are part of the gang then they have to help out with the man that they are currently bedding, because I sure as hell am not doing anyone's laundry except mine and Ranger's and he didn't even ask for me to. Let's ride Ladies" The girls followed me up the stairs to my room where I removed an air horn from my bag, I carried it in my purse to scare off strange men. I pressed the horn three times one short blast then one long blast followed by another short blast. Men and women started scurrying out of the rooms, cussing and swearing and cursing us to the graves.

"MEN" I shouted. "The wives as you like to call us will no longer be doing anyone washing except that of our own or our men's, if you want you fucking clothes clean either do them yourselves or get the flavor of the week or the ride or whatever you call them to do them for you. As of this moment right now we wives are no longer you door mats." Lester came flying at me that is when I pulled a gun and pointed it at his crotch. In a serious and quiet voice I explained that if he thought that for one second that I would allow him to touch me like that, that he had another thing coming. It was at that moment that I realized that everyone around me had gone deathly quiet. I pushed Lester away from me and looked around and that is when I spotted Ranger.

"Ranger, you have got to be fucking kidding me if you think that for one second that we are going to listen to a damn word that this whore has to say." I saw spots cross my vision but I did not get far as I was being held back by Tank and Bobby.

TBC...


	14. Apologies

Chapter 14 Apologies

RPOV

I was just getting back from checking on our project for this stop, when I pulled into the lot I noticed on the second floor that it looked like the gang was gathered not sure what was going on, but I knew that it could not be good, I looked over to Tank, who wore the same expression on his face that I must have had. I parked and then ran over to the stairs. Making to the top, I could hear my Babe's voice she was telling the men that if they wanted to have clean clothes that they will be doing their own or have their girl do it because from now on the 'wives' would only being doing their own and their man's. I smiled at that. Right after that I heard a scuffle and made my way to the front of the crowd to see my Babe with a gun pointed at Santos's dick. She was speaking in a very low tone that could not be heard across the crowd. When the crowd finally noticed me they all became quiet. When Lester finally noticed that I was there, he started spouting some bull shit about how he was not going to be listening to what my Babe had to say, but that was when I notice that he did not say woman or chick, he had called her a whore. I grabbed him by his shirt collar and then punched him in the gut.

"What did you just call my woman?"

"I called her a fucking whore!" he spat.

"Wrong answer." I punched him again in the face, and then in the crotch. "I suggest that you try that again."

"She told us that she that the wives would no longer be washing the clothes of the groups and that they would only be washing the clothes of their man's. Who the fuck does she think that she is to just order us to take it like that." He was yelling. In a calm steady voice I said low enough for him to hear the seriousness in my voice that he understood the next words that I was saying.

"Santos, I heard everything that was just said, I can't not but agree with what was said. She is my woman, and she is not a slave, we have other women in the group that are capable of washing clothes, and it is not fair to the wives that they are to be responsible for everyone's laundry. They are our women by choice, they do not belong to you or this group. You will respect them as a member of this group and you will not ever, ever again use that word to describe my woman, do I make myself very clear?" Lester nodded. I pushed him away and cleared my throat. "Am I to understand that you all have been disrespecting our wives? That because they belong to us that they also belong to you and that they are to do whatever the rest of you think that they should do, because they bare the mark? You all forget that not only do they bare the mark but they also, bare our names. They are ours not yours, they only do what we ask for them to do from here on out. If you would like them to help you with something then ask, it is at their discretion whether or not they aid you in the task that you ask. Ladies, if you ride with someone you are theirs, make no mistake about your role here, if you want to party and have fun, that is great, but understand that if you are here to be a piece of ass then we will leave your ass behind, we can find good ass anywhere. Now if you are all done disrespecting my woman, get back to what you were doing and I hope for your sake that you get your laundry done. I think you know where to find it. Dismissed." I turned and found my Babe huddled in Bobby's arms. When I came within touching distance he turned her into my arms and then pulled Jill into both of his tightly.

"Ranger, are you mad?"

"Yes." I heard a sharp inhale of breath. "But not with you Baby. Not with you".

"Thank god, I am sorry to turn up trouble but I did not think that it was fair…" I cut her off with a chaste kiss to her lips.

"You did nothing wrong, if I had known that this was going on, I would have made it clear that it was not okay. I love you. Thank you for bringing it to my attention." I kissed her forehead. "I need to apologize to Jill and Mona about this." She nodded. I grasped her hand and pulled her behind me over to where Tank and Mona were standing.

"Mona" she turned in Tank's arms, I could see tears rolling down her face. "I am so sorry that this is what was going on, I did not know. I know that I have asked a few times for you and Jill to help me out my doing my laundry, but I was unaware, that the guys were disrespecting you both like that, can you please forgive me and this oversight?"

"Ranger, I never minded doing you laundry, because, you always asked and you never expected me to do it because you were a man and it was my job to do it, you always gave us the option to say no. Hell, Steph, was madder than a hell cat when she found out about the guys and how they treat us, she has not had to experience it yet, but she was ready to fight for us. I accept your apology, not that it was ever needed from you. But thank you anyway." I pulled her into a hug and kissed her temple. Shook Tank's hand.

"Man, you should have told me what was going on, I would have ended this sooner."

"Mona, wouldn't let me she didn't want it to cause trouble, but I am glad that it is out and that no one really got hurt."

"I will fix this."

"You already have Brother, you already have"

"No, that was Steph, but I am glad that I could help." Next I went over to Jill, she was shaking in Bobby's arms. Steph stepped up and placed her hand on Jill's back. Jill turned and pulled Steph into a hug.

"Steph, thank you for all that you did, for standing up for us, and making us feel like we should be important in this group, because we are."

"Jill, I didn't just do this for you, I did this for me too, I will not be run over by those men just because they are a part of this group and those woman have no effect on me, they may be marked and they be a part of this group, but they are not like us we are a select few that have earned the right to have a say in this group, we are special, we not just a fling for this trip and when we on the road, we are with our men, but when we go home, we are still with our men." Jill nodded her head and then I grabbed her hand.

"Jill, I want to apologize, that this was not stopped before hand, if I had known that this was going on, I would have ended it a long time ago. You do not deserve to be treated badly because you have Bobby's mark on you, you deserve to be treated like a fucking queen, and from now on the three of you will be treated like a true member of this gang. Outside of Lester, the three of us are the founders of this group and we have a say in what goes on in this group. I will not let you be treated like second class because of it. Forgive me if I have ever treated you that way?" She nodded. I kissed her temple and passed her back to Bobby. I gave him a nod and then pulled my Babe back into my arms.

"Thank you, Baby." She nods and then leans up and kisses me thoroughly. I growled and the feel of her kissing me.

"You know that this is not going to be over, with that little speech that you just gave?"

"I know, but at least now that I know, the six of us can fight together, and I won't let you guys be treated so badly by the rest of this group, but I can feel and an unease, in the air and I don't think that we will have smooth waters for a while."

"I think that I agree."

TBC

Sorry that it is so short, but wanted to get something out to you all. Hoping to have a new chapter of Frenzy up today as well, then maybe a new chapter of Along for the Ride.


	15. The Next Day

Chapter 15 The Next Day

SPOV

Yesterday, was a long day. After the confrontation with Lester, I was tired so I decided that I should take a nap, but then I remembered that I needed to do some laundry, since today was the only day that we would have for the rest of the week to do that. So I headed down to the laundry room, only to find that it was full, all of the guys were there picking up what was there or was waiting for a machine to be empty. They were all giving me a glare that I pretty sure if looks could kill that I would have dropped dead there on the spot. So I gathered my stuff and headed back to the room. I found Ranger there sitting on the bed, I could see the desire in his eyes. I shivered as I remembered the night before and how we had finally given into our feelings. But that was yesterday.

Today, well today, I was sitting on a roof, that's right a roof, helping Ranger and Tank with a Habitat for Humanity home in the area, that was for an old Army buddy of theirs and the gang had volunteered to help with the house so that this Vet could have a home by the end of the month. I was happy about the friend of theirs getting a home, but pissed as hell at the fact that it was hot as hell out here and I was on a fucking roof, in the middle of summer. I sat down on the peak and let the breeze blow across my skin. I felt a tingle at the base of neck, I went to scratch it when I looked behind me and saw that Ranger was staring at me from the other side of the roof. I smiled and then got back to work on the shingles that I was laying. Never in my mind would I have thought that I would be shingling a roof, but I guess I could say that about a lot of things that have happened over the last two weeks.

About sun down we were all packing up to head back to the hotel, I was tired, I was sweaty and I wanted nothing more than a cold beer and a hot meal followed by a long sleep. I swung my leg over the bike and waited on Ranger to come join me.

"Baby" he whispered as he kissed my neck. "You did well today, I am proud of you. We will be heading out tomorrow, and it will be a longer ride than we have made in the last couple of days, but we are meeting Brad at the bar in town." I nodded. "Tired?" I nodded again. "You can stay in the room, and I will go grab a quick beer and then come back so that we can sleep."

"No, I will go with you, I want to hear some more old war stories." I felt him cringe. "I was kidding. The girls wanted to sit and gossip and they practically begged me to go so that would have someone to talk to tonight." He nodded.

"Then let's go clean up." He climbed on the bike and away we went.

We pulled up to the bar after showering and having a little too much fun in the shower. He really is good in the shower, if he puts his mind to it. We walked into the bar and the whole room went silent. I grabbed his hand, it was one of those situations where you could tell that they had just been talking about you when you came in. He squeezed my hand and we went and sat with the girls and Bobby and Tank. Once we got settled Brad came over.

"So I hear that you are the one that tamed the Wild Manoso?" he asked with a smirk.

"I not sure if tamed is the right word, but if you are asking if I am his then I guess the answer would be yes." I answered with a smile.

"Is that what she telling everyone, that she tamed Ranger?" I knew that voice. That was the voice of Genesis. I turned to see her pushing her tits into Ranger's face. He had a look of complete disgust on his face. One that he could not hide, but she seemed oblivious to it. Bobby had an amusing look on his face.

"What are you doing here Gen? I thought that we left the trash back in Trenton." Jill asked in an amusing voice.

"No one was talking to you wife? Aren't you supposed to be tied to a bed somewhere?" Gen spat.

"I'm sorry, did you need something or were you just here to make sure that we acknowledged your presence?" Mona asked.

"Man, the two of you think that you are some prime shit, since these two only fuck you. Well as far as you know." Gen quipped back. I was starting to see red, so far the boys had said nothing.

"Gen, that is enough, I said as I stood, you don't get to talk to people like that, and no one over here wants you at this table, so take you slutty ass and get away from us now." I all but screamed.

"Looks who is getting all pissy, because she is being told the truth about the man in her life, that she is not the only woman that he is fucking." Gen all but growled. That was it, I was done. But Jill beat me to it.

"Gen, regardless of what you think I know where Bobby is every night and I know that he is not sleeping with any other woman, because he is not only in bed with me every night but he is in me. So take your tramp ass and go bother someone else." She flounced off at that statement. I smiled at Jill letting her know, I appreciated everything that she had said. Mona had not said anything since Gen's last statement.

"Mona, are you okay?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom." Tank helped her up, but still had not said anything. Jill ran after her. I just sat there.

"You guys are fucking around on them aren't you?" neither one of them moved. I then turned to Ranger and noticed that he had the same look on his face. I felt the tears in my eyes. "Really Ranger, I can't believe you. This is fucking ridiculous. No wonder those two are treated like crap, they can't be respected, not with the way that you treat them, them, hell us." With that I stood and made my way to the bathroom. I stood there on the inside of the bathroom, not really seeing anything. Just a blur from the tears that were clouding my vision. I can't believe that I fell for that, he loves me, and that he wants me. When all he wanted was my body. I felt myself slide to the ground.

"Babe" A yell came from through the door. Then there was a banging on it.

"Leave us alone, haven't you done enough, why don't you go find one of the other girls to fuck with their minds, ours are tired." Mona yelled at him through the door.

"Honey, are you okay?" Jill asked squatting in front of me. I just stared at her. "They have been doing this to us for years. I can understand where you are but we have to stick together, you have to just deal with it that is what comes with bearing the mark of a man that cannot be tamed. I felt myself break down at that statement, he had practically begged me to let him claim me, and I was foolish enough to believe that he would love me, like I had never been loved.

"Steph, let's go back to the room, We can all sleep in mine, Tank won't come back to the room tonight he will spend the night avoiding me, giving me time to cool off, while he finds another pussy to stick his dick in." I stood and went to mirror and splashed some water on my face and then dried with a towel. Then I smiled at the girls and we made our way back to the bar. I was ready to head out. We walked back in the main room of the bar, to see that the guys were surrounded by the gang's girls. Gen was trying to get Ranger's attention and for the most part she was getting it. I felt my blood boil. Jill grabbed my hand and we exited that bar.

I decided after we got back to the hotel, that I wanted to go back to my room and try and get some sleep and make some notes on my story. I went to bed about two hours later. It took me a while to settle down and go to sleep.

The next thing I remember was feeling the bed dip. It was Ranger he was sliding into bed with me.

"Go take a shower and wash off whatever skank you were with. I don't want to know what she smells like."

"Ba…"  
"Don't just go take a fucking shower, I don't want to talk about it, I want to be mad and I want to get this story done, so that I can just move on with my life." I then rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. I heard the shower start and then I drifted off to sleep again.

I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing. I blinked to see that the sun was shining and the curtains were open. I looked around and noticed that Ranger was still sleeping beside me, we must have forgotten to close them before going to be. I crawled out and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Steph, can I speak to Ranger?"

"Sure, hold on" I tossed the phone on to Ranger's chest. He sat up with a start. "Phone it is Tank" and then headed to the bathroom.

I was standing by the bike waiting on Ranger to bring the last bag down to the bike. I had loaded up everything but the bag that had the clothes and the bathroom stuff back into its spot on the bike. Mona and Jill had done the same. I was not sure what was going on, but I know that I was not in the mood for anything today, so I just stood there. I saw Ranger exit our room and make his way over to the stairs. I could also see Gen was now riding with Lester, he had a smirk on his face, like everything was rose colored in his world. Something was up. I broke out of my contemplation when I felt a hand rest on the small of my back.

"Babe, can we talk real fast?" he asked solemnly.

"Sure, what would you like to discuss?" He raised his eyebrow at me.

"Well, I know that you are still mad, and I want to discuss with you why you would think that I would do that to you? I know that we do not know each other very well, but, I want you to know that I have not done that to you. I will not do that to you. I may be an ass most of the time, but I would not do that to a woman that I love, especially one that I love as much as you."

"Well, you were looking awful guilty last night, and even more so you were looking awful cozy with Gen, last night when I was leaving the bar Babe"

"What do you mean? I sat there after you went to the bathroom, devastated that you would think that I would do that to you. I did not see Gen the rest of the night."

"She was sitting on your lap when I came out of the bathroom. So don't stand there and lie to me."

"Baby, honestly, I did not know that she was there, I was just staring off into space thinking about how I just lost the best thing in my life. I was so happy that you were in our room last night. I wanted nothing more than to hold you, but then you yelled at me to go take a shower, and then to leave you alone, I was scared. Baby, I was at that bar till it closed and then I came straight to the room. I wanted to be with you, I did not think that you would still be there when I got there." The entire time that he had been talking I was staring at the ground trying not to cry. When he said that he was scared that I would not be there, my head shot up and I looked deep into his eyes. I stared for a hot minute and I could see that he was telling the truth.

"What was the phone call from Tank about?"

"He wanted to let me know that the girls were in his room and the he had let Bobby know as well. We were worried about where you guys had gone last night." I nodded and leaned into him, I could stand this fighting that was going on between us.

"I want you understand that, I will not tolerate cheating, your dick stays in your pants unless it is inside of me. If I find out that it was somewhere it did not belong, I will walk away and I will not be back, I have been cheated on before and I do not like the way that it feels and I will not put myself in that position again."

"I understand Baby, and you will have no reason to ever walk away from me again."

"Good" I kissed his lips softly. "Let's get going" He nodded and we finished packing and then he climbed on the bike and then helped me settle in behind him. We started and took off the rest of the gang following behind us. I could feel the tension of this stop melt away as we left Greensburg Indiana behind, hopefully our next stop would not have so much drama. I leaned into Ranger's back and let my mind wander.


	16. Making Up is Hard to Do

Chapter 16 Making up is hard to do

RPOV

It has been a week, since we left Greensburg and while the ride has been nice, the tension in the group has only gotten stronger. Steph has started to with draw, just to protect herself, I am glad that she is trying to ease the tension, by making herself scarce, but I miss her. I leave in the morning to head off to the latest project that we are working on here in Colorado, helping a friend of the General's that has a large ranch up here, that he pastures cattle on. We would be here another week, before we would start heading south. We needed to be in Southern California by the end of the month. When I get back to the room at the end of the day, I know that she is bored, and a little sad, but when she told me that she was angry, I took her at her word, and now I am glad that I did, she has not said much to anyone other than me and the wives. We have not been intimate since then, I am dying to hold her in my arms and make love to her again, but I know that I need to give her time. She will come around when she is ready.

After we left Greensburg, the ride from there to here was a long one, we broke it up over a couple of days, but the plains states are not the most entertaining ones around. There were several times that Steph, would at a stop climb in front of me on the bike straddling my thighs lean into me and fall asleep. Those times were my favorite, I was able to hold her and still concentrate on the road before me. If I thought I was in love with this woman before now, I was defiantly in love with her by the time we made it here. She would snuggle into me and sigh a happy content sigh and then nuzzle her nose in my neck and go to sleep. It was like this every night. My mind wanders sitting out here, watching and guarding the cattle, a mountain lion had been seen in the area, and we were on guard round the clock till we were sure the herd was safe. I wanted to bring Steph out here, she would love it, I just needed to convince her to leave the bunk house. Tank's voice cleared me from my wandering mind

"Do you think they will ever forgive us?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, but I have hope, I can't let my heart and mind think that it is all over." He nods his head we make our round the perimeter, making sure that none of the herd have wandered too far. "I take it that you and Mona have not worked it out yet?"

"No, she is making me sleep on the couch in our bunk. She will not let me touch her let alone look at her. I miss her like crazy. I know what happened between was wrong. I should have not let my dick do the thinking, but I can't change the past. I miss her. Are things any better with Steph, I know that I have not seen her much since we arrived here, I know that she is just falling back to allow time for all of this to blow over, but she is missing these amazing views, and time she could be gathering information for her story?" I smirked of course he would figure out that she is here, as something other than my woman.

"How long?"

"I have known since the bar the first night, I love the magazine that she works for, and I recognized her the moment she walked in the bar."

"Please don't tell anyone, her story idea sounded amazing and I agreed that she could ride with us. She has promised not to use the name of the gang or any of our real names in the story."

"If this is just for a story, then why did you mark her?"

"I wanted to make sure that she was safe, that was the only way that I could ensure that she would be protected."

"I going to guess that watching her get the mark, stirred up a lot of possessive emotions for you." This was not a question.

"Yeah, it did."

"I was the same way with Mona, spent a week balls deep, after she got her mark. The beast inside of me would not let myself be sated." I nodded.

"We have only been together once since then." I smiled remembering that night.

"What the fuck are you doing here, man go get your woman, ruin her for all other men." I gave him a look.

"Man, I said go, I will cover for you. Make sure she understands that she is yours and that there will never be another woman for you, and then live up to that. Don't fuck up like I did." I nod and ride off back to the bunk house and my woman.

When I made it back to the bunk house, I could not find her in our room, I went to the kitchens to see if she was in there, she was not. I ran into Jill and Mona,

"Have you ladies seen Steph?"

"She was headed to the bath house."

"Thanks, Mona, you have a wonderful man, even if he is a bonehead. I am not saying that you should forget, but you should try to forgive, he is being really hard on himself about all of this." With that said, I made my way to the bath house.

Upon entering the house, I could hear her singing. She wasn't really singing so much as humming. I turned the corner into the shower, to see her, standing under the spray. Her eyes were closed and I could see the smile on her face. The next stall over had running water as well, it sounded as if someone was getting their over there. I stepped into her stall and stripped, then walked up behind her and pressed my body against her water and soft curves. She gasped.

"Baby" I growled.

"Mmmm" she purred. She turned in my arms and pressed her tits up against my chest. "I thought that you would not be back for a few more hours."

"I am not supposed to be." I whispered in her ear. "Who is the next stall?"

"Gen and Woody, I think."

"What about Les?" she shrugged her shoulders.

"Baby, I need you." I stated in a deep husky voice.

"Well then I suggest that you have Hannah and her sister's take care of it for you."

"Baby, please, I am here begging you, I need to make love to my woman, I understand that you are still mad, but all I can ask is for forgiveness, but Baby, please." She turned from where she was and made her way back to me, climbing me like a tree and slamming her lips down on mine. Possessing my mouth. I kissed her back just as fiercely. I pushed her up against the wall, and slammed my cock into her to the hilt, she screamed out in pleasure and some pain. I was panting with pleasure. I stilled waiting for her to adjust to my size.

"You are so fucking hard, I have never felt any man this hard before." She purred out. I started thrusting in and out. She grazed my nipples with her nails making me hiss. I started suckling her neck and her breasts. "Harder, please Ranger harder"

"This what you want Baby?" I said as I slammed into her as hard as I could. She screamed out my name and came all over my dick. I held back my own release wanting to milk one more out of her before I allowed myself the pleasure. When she came down for her release, she had a glazed over look in her eyes and she was still purring. I started to move again and she started moaning. "Come on Baby, cum for me, I want us to cum together this time." She nodded in response to my statement. I let loose and pounded into her over and over again. She was moaning every time that I slid all the way home. I was losing my control and the pleasure that I was bringing to her body was driving me closer to the edge. I started to feel the coil in me tighten and tighten like it was about to spring, when she dug her nails into my back it set lose my release and then hers. I could tell that she was just holding on enjoying the ride. When my release ebbed, my knees gave out and we slunk to the shower floor.

After we caught our breath she started giggling. I raise my eyebrow at her.

"Damn, Ranger, there towards the end I was just holding on trying to stay on." I smiled and started laughing at the statement that she just made. "Is that how make up sex with us is always going to be?"

"I hope so, but I also hope that we don't experience it too often, I do not like fighting with you."

"I feel the same. Why don't you finish cleaning up and then meet me at the room." I nodded. She grabbed the towel from the hook and then dried off and slipped the towel around her and was gone. I started to rinse off the smell of sex off of me and wash my hair, when I felt two arms sling around my waist. "Did you decide that you wanted a second round?"

"Well since my first round was not very satisfying that would be amazing?" I quickly turned around to see Gen, standing there with nothing on but a smile.

"What the fuck do you think that you are doing?"

"I was trying to off, but if you are having to ask then I am not doing a very good job. Come on Ranger, I know that you are not really satisfied with that bitch that you call your woman, she must not be satisfied with what she is giving her. If you are that ready to go again. You were never like that when we were together." She pushed herself up against me, and then started to rub my cock. I grabbed her hand and pulled it away from my dick and then behind her in a position that if I moved just right would dislocate her shoulder.

"The reason why I never wanted a second round with you was because you aren't that good, and it is hard to keep something up that has been infiltrated by every man on the continent. If you ever try this kind of stunt again, I will have no problem making you disappear. Now I will let you go now, but remember I keep my promises." I let her arm go just as the curtain was pulled back revealing a very pissed off Stephanie. Oh shit!


	17. Rocky Mountain High

Chapter 17 Rocky Mountain High

SPOV

I had gotten all the way back to the room, before I remembered that I had left my clothes in the changing stall in the bath house. So I made my way back to bath house, when I heard Ranger's voice, he was asking a question so I moved closer to the stall where he was. I heard him say that the reason he never wanted a second round was because the person he was talking to was not that good. I silently laughed about the next statement. After he stated a threat, I pulled the curtain back to see Genesis and Ranger, standing there completely nude and Ranger releasing her arm. I was entering Rhino mode.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I asked

"Babe, it is not what it looks like."

"That is what they all say." Gen quipped back.

"Shut up you fucking skank. If Ranger says that nothing is going on, then I believe him, besides I heard half the conversation, before I let myself be known." I sent her a glare.

"Babe, I was just finishing my shower, when she came in and wrapped her arms around my waist and then my dick." I walked over to Ranger and placed my body between his and Genesis's I did not trust her. I turned to face him.

"I believe you, don't worry." He smiled, I then kissed the side of his mouth before turning to face the bitch that would not go away. "So the rest of the guys are not enough, so you have to go after my man too?"

"He is not your man, if anything he is using you, he will eventually come to me."

"I would not hold my breath. Like he said, he always wants a second round with me, from what I hear, you barely good enough for one. Oh who am I kidding he always wants more than two or three rounds before he is even close to sated. I suggest that you leave and remember whatever he promised would happen, I will make sure that he follows through. Stay away from Ranger, Hell stay away from Bobby and Tank as well." With that she flounced away, but not before she slipped and fell on her ass, then when she was getting up she tripped on a flip flop that was left my one of the guys that made her fall on her face. I was trying not to laugh, but she was making it very hard. When she finally made her way out of the bath house, I fell into Ranger's arms laughing so hard that I had tears rolling down my cheeks. He kissed my cheeks and then my lips.

"Baby, let's take this back to our room, I think I am ready for rounds two and three." I moaned and then helped him finish his shower, and then went to grab my clothes and we made our way to our bunk. The rest of the night we made love to each other.

The next morning, I was awoken to butterfly kisses around my face. I smiled then opened my eyes.

"Good morning Baby"

"Good morning Stud" Ranger groaned. I blushed. "Sorry but after last night that is what you are."

"Thanks Baby. You are good for my ego."

"Glad I could help, to what do I owe this lovely wake up call?"

"I thought that you would like to ride out with me this morning"

"Ranger, I would love too, but I am trying to make your life a little easier, by laying low."

"Baby, I want you to see how beautiful this place is, and see what we are doing, plus, I think that most of the guys are over what happened, the only one still not happy is Lester, and he has bigger problems right now"

'Like his junk rotting off' I thought to myself.

"Yeah, like that."

"Out loud"

"Yeah, Baby, out loud." He leaned down and gently kissed my lips, "Come on let's get rolling."

"Alright." I sat up letting the sheet fall down to my waist.

"Not going to work this morning Baby. I have to meet Tank out there in an hour, let's go."

"I had to try." I climbed out of bed dressed and made my way to the bath house to freshen up. When I got the bath house, I ran into and I mean literally ran into Lester. "Sorry, Lester. I did not see you there. Just getting in?"

"Yeah, I had the overnight shift."

"Well, I hope that you can get some sleep."

"Thanks" and then he headed off to his bunk. It felt like something was going on, but I was not sure, I would ask Ranger after we were out in the pasture.

We spent the day moving the herd from the lower pasture to the upper pasture, I had the best day. Riding along with Ranger listening to him tell me old war stories about him and some of the guys in their time in the army. He also told me that Lester was starting to realize that Genesis was not what he thought that she was and that he is just trying to survive till we leave so that he can make sure that she gets a ride home and that she will leave the gang alone. So far he found out that she is sleeping with at least half of the gang and it is starting to disrupt the dynamic that the girls have with the guys, she also does not like that we have girls that travel with us, but also that she is not Ranger's. I rolled my eyes when he told me this. I suggested that we take her to the nearest town and the leave her there. Ranger laughed and said that he was sure that was thought about. Before I knew it the day crew was headed back. Ranger told me that he was slated for overnight. I told him that I wanted to stay with him. He smiled and we started to make camp for the night. The night crew was coming up and we would have company in the next hour or so. We watched the herd graze and started cooking up dinner. We were just pulling the food off the fire when the night crew met up with us, I was surprised that Lester was part of the crew, I walked up to his horse and held it while the he climbed down.

"Thanks" he said.

"Welcome, I thought that you had tonight off Lester?" I asked.

"I did, but I did not want to deal with Gen, so I volunteered to come out tonight and gave Bobby the night off."

"That was sweet, have him and Jill made up?"

"I think that they have started to work on it, he does not want to lose her and he is trying really hard to make her understand that he will never do that to her again, he loves her."

"Yeah, he does, I just worry about Tank and Mona, I am not sure that they will ever get past this." Lester squeezes my hand and looks deep into my eyes.

"They will get past this, just give them some more time to work it out." I went to turn and go back to Ranger. "Steph" I turned back to Lester, "I want to apologize for the things that I have said about you and for the way that I acted towards you, I understand now that you were just trying to see that you and the wives were not maids or slaves, because you were branded, that you were marked, it made you all more special than the others, I can see that now."

"Thank you for the apology and I accept it as well, I want us to work on being friends do you think that we could do that?"

"Of course we can Beautiful" I smile give him a hug and then head off to Ranger.

Later that night, I was lying my sleeping bag trying to get comfortable enough to go to sleep. When I felt the edge of the bag lift and someone climb in. I tensed.

"It is okay, Baby it is just me. We have to share a bag, they did not know that you were coming up and we are one bag short." I rolled over and snuggled into his chest.

"I love you."

"I love you too Baby," We were quiet for a while. "What were you and Lester talking about earlier?"

"Oh, he was apologizing about how he acted and then we talked about Bobby and Tank and the girls, he seems to think that everything will be alright with them. I am not so sure yet. We are going to work on being friends."

"I am glad, Baby, Lester is one of my best friends, I want him to like the woman that I am with." I nuzzled his neck. "Behave woman" I giggled. He rolled us so that I was underneath him. "If we can be very quiet." I nodded. He slipped his hands underneath my shirt and then started kissing me. I felt myself get wet with desire for this man. After what seemed like forever he was poised at my entrance. He stopped himself and gazed right into my eyes. "Baby, look at me" I looked right in to eyes and could see the love coming from him. "I love you and I want to be with you forever." I gasped and he slide home. My eyes closed and I could feel him still within me.

"I love you" I whispered out. He started moving, this time it felt different than the other times that we had made love. I looked into his eyes and saw that he felt it too. When our releases came we both had tears in our eyes and then we slept. I knew that there would never be another man that could love me the way that he had just shown me his love.

TBC...


	18. A Surprise for Babe

Chapter 18 A Surprise for Babe

RPOV

The last few weeks have been amazing, after final admitting that we had feelings for each other and then finally getting past all of the obstacles that were thrown at us, we had finally started to get into a groove. We also had finally made it to California, I could tell that my Babe was starting to miss home we had been on the road for a month and that is long time to be away from friends and family. She was also stressed about her story. I could tell that she was having a hard time writing the story that she had originally set out to write but I feel that she is feeling guilty about lying to the rest of the guys about what she is doing here, even though that things have changed with us since we left Trenton.

After leaving Colorado, we headed down to Arizona, where we conveniently left Genesis with another gang that she was known to be associated with. Since that day on the mountain Babe and Lester have started to get along and he has started to see what was really going on with the gang and who Babe really is. He came to me and apologized about how he had acted and for bringing Genesis along with us. I accepted his apology, but also warned him that we would more than likely would see her again.

We were now in San Diego, we had stopped to aid in a charity for the naval base in the area, who were raising funds for homeless sailors that had come home from war with no place to go. A noble cause one that we were striving to make better, we have been here a little over a week. One that best things about being here in San Diego is that I own a home here, and this allowed for me and Babe to have a lot of privacy and some very much earned time alone.

"What are you thinking about that has your mind so far away?" I hear Babe ask breaking my train of thought.

"I was just thinking about the last couple of weeks and everything that has happened."

"Oh, are you excited about the parade today? I know that several of the guys are like big kids are can't wait to ride today." I nodded, I was excited, not because we were riding in the parade, but that my Babe would be there to cheer me on. She was just as excited as some of the guys that were actually going to be in the parade. Every year we made sure that we were for this parade, and that we were representing the veterans of this country and that we were making them proud. I was proud that I had fought for my country. Knowing that my Babe was proud of me made it even more so.

"We should probably get up and start getting ready or we are going to be late" she whispered my ear and then she climbed out of my massive bed and headed into the en suite. I laid there a few moments thinking about the rest of the trip and hoping that it would go a lot more smoothly than what the beginning had gone. I knew that something was brewing and I had a feeling that it was about to come to a head. We still had some big projects that we were going to be working on, but I feel that a big bump would be coming soon. When I heard the shower start up I knew that she was ready for me to join her. I climbed out of bed and made my way to the love of my life in the shower.

The parade route was always the same and I knew that I wanted my Babe to have a really good spot to view the fan fair. I placed her mid-way in the route knowing that she would have the best seat in the house for the message that I wanted to make sure that she could read. I have a few surprises left for my Babe, she just doesn't know that she is in a place to receive it yet. Several of the guys were in place to help me with this, and that was the real reason that they were excited.

We started down the route each of us had a flag on the back of our bike, I was carrying the American flag and was very glad to be honored with that this year. Last year, I had carried the Ranger flag, and I thought that was also a great honor for me to represent the Army Ranger's out there. I was riding out front in the quest to show the flag great respect. We rode the slow route that will end up being like 5 miles by the end of all of it.

"Thank goodness, this year we are not behind the horses, last year that was horrible, having to swerve to miss all that crap." Tank said as he rode beside me, I laughed.

"Well that is true, but we should be thankful that is wasn't an elephant, it could have been so much worse for us." He smiled at me. "How are things going with Mona?"

"Better, we are just starting to talk about the things that have gone on with us and how we can change it to make it better and to prevent those things from happening again. I want us to work, I can't go back to not having her in my life all the time, I also cannot stand the thought of another man touching her."

"I understand, where you are coming from with that. It is how I feel about my Babe, it is why, I am doing this for her."

"I hope that she likes this, as much as you think that she will."

"Me too." I smiled back at him and then continued on the route following some beauty queen riding in a convertible in front of us. She would wave and smile at the crowd, but most of them would just wave back or do nothing, when they saw us behind her, they would salute or wave at us. It was very humbling to see the respect that was shown the vets and soldiers at these events, I would salute or wave back to those that did the same to us. We were almost to my Babe, when I saw an older gentleman striving to stand from his wheel chair and salute the flag, just as he had always done, I stopped my bike and helped the man stand, I saluted him and shook his hand thanking him for the service that he had provided for this country. His family stood behind him with tears in their eyes, and thank me and my men for the coming to the aid of the father and grandfather. When he was comfortable in his seat again, I started my bike again and rode off towards the front of the group again and watched for my Babe.

TBC...

 **I know that I left you kind of at a cliff but, I wanted you to see the surprise from Steph's pov. So I hope that you enjoyed and I hope to post again next week.**

 **Crys**


	19. She Did What?

Chapter 19 He did what?

SPOV

I was enjoying the parade, the floats and the marching bands. I stood for the troops that walked past and then I could hear sirens coming my way. I peer around to see the fire trucks for the local volunteer group and then I could hear the purr of the gang behind the sirens, I smiled thinking that I would then get to see my… well what was Ranger to me, my boyfriend, my man, my what accomplice. I stood there lost in thought about what I was to Ranger, when down the road the bikes stopped. I could see that several of the guys were stopped and that they seem to be grouped around one place in particular. I watched as several of the guys got back on their bike and then started back on the route. It was then that I saw Ranger helping an elderly gentleman stand and salute the flag. The scene brought tears to my eyes. I watched as the guys helped the gentleman back into his seat then I saw Ranger and Tank climb back on their bikes and ride on. I saw that all of the guys had flags on their bikes. I started reading the words on the flags as they rode past. One had the word 'Babe' on it one had 'move in' on it the next 'with me' then I saw the last one it said 'will you' it took me a moment to realize what was being asked. I gasped as I put it together in my mind. Could he really be asking me to move in with him? We have not been together for very long and we have spent a good amount of that time fighting. Is he serious? He would have to be to ask me like this. I heard the roar of a bike which broke me out of my thoughts. I looked up and Ranger was stopped right in front of me, with hope in his eyes. I nodded and he held his hand out to me. I grabbed it and climbed on the back of his bike, he squeezed my thigh and then we rolled off with the rest of the guys. I was smiling against his back.

"Babe, what do you say?" Ranger asked as we were sitting under a large tree eating a picnic lunch after the parade.

"Huh?" I asked, I know eloquent.

"Baby, live with me. Be mine."

"I thought that I was already yours" I quipped back.

"No, Baby, I mean really be mine, like really, really, be my woman, let me take care of you, let me love you, take me home to meet your parents and I will do the same." He was whispering in my ears.

"You want to be my woman" I quipped back, he started tickling me.

"You know what I mean woman" I laughed and wiggled as he pinned me down.

"Yes, yes, yes. I am yours." I said laughing then I looked directly into his eyes "I love you". He gasped.

"Damn Baby. I love you too." He smiled and kissed my forehead before he pulled me up against him and we snuggled under the tree. We were watching the guys intermingle and play around, the journey may not be over but we had made peace finally.

If only that peace would have stayed around a little longer, I thought about the day of the parade, now it was raining and we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, I looked like a drowned rat, and I was sure that I was not the only one, we were headed to Northern California, for the next step in our journey, things have been going well since, we left the mountains, Lester and I have come to a mutual ground of friendship, Mona and Tank finally made up and are working on rebuilding their relationship, Bobby and Jill are good standing as well, they even went as far as making a side trip to Vegas and got married, like in for real married, they looked happier than I have ever seen them. But the last couple of days' things have started to feel like we were all the shit at the bottom of the hill, I was just waiting to see what would fall next. A loud horn blasted next to me, which scared me and brought me back to the horrible 6 lane highway where we were now stuck due to some stupid truck that had turned over and now was jack-knifed across the highway, we had already tried to find a way around it but we could not get off of the highway, to make our escape. So here we sat in the rain, waiting. I climbed off the bike and then back on but now in front of Ranger, he quirked his eyebrow up and then looked at me.

"I am cold and wet and we have been here for the last hour, with no movement. I want to see your face when I talk to you and I want to hold my man." He smiled at the 'my man' comment, then he wrapped his arms around me.

"We will just have to make the best of the situation then, Baby." He whispered in my ear and then nuzzled my neck and started kissing me, I kissed him back with matched passion. We were lost in our own little world when I heard the start of cars and bikes around us. He placed his forehead against mine. "Baby, we are on our way again." I burrowed deeper and held on. He kicked started the bike and stated to move forward. I just held on and let him ride. I could feel the tension that was in his body start to diminish as we started to pull out of the heavy traffic and make our way to the side of the road. Once we were out of town some ways, the road stop that all stopped at to dry off a bit and make a pit stop in the restroom. I was wringing out my hair and putting it up in a ponytail, when I felt a presence just behind me.

"Well, if it isn't the Jersey Bitch?" I snapped my head up and looked at who was standing behind me.

"Genesis, how nice to see you" I said in my best burg voice.

"ah, cut the shit, you are the reason that Lester dumped me and then left me with the Hearts."

"No, Gen, you are the reason that he left you in Arizona, not me."

"Why would he want to get rid of me, when we were just getting so close, if it was not for you?"  
"Did you not notice that he was never in the camp the last few weeks that we were there? Did you not notice that he was taking over other people's shift just so that he would not have to be there with you and face the fact that you were fucking every other guy there? Don't you think that he was embarrassed to think that he did not please you enough for you to keep it in your pants?"

"Fuck you" she spewed out at me and the line of questions that I that posed to her.

"No, thank you, I have seen what would do and I want no part of it." I knew at that moment that she was about to hit me, so I pulled back my hand and punched her right on the nose, she stumbled backwards and then fell on her ass. "It seems lately that every time that we met you end up on your ass, so I suggest that you take your shit and go bark up someone else's tree, I am done." With that I gathered my stuff and marched out the bathroom door. I did not make it very far, when I felt someone tackle me to the ground just outside the bathroom door. The last thing that I remember thinking the stupid bitch is about to get it.

The next thing that I knew I was being pulled off of her by two very strong arms, 'what the fuck'

"Babe, calm down, it is alright." Right then I knew that Ranger was there and everything would be okay. I took and deep breath and as the fog lifted I looked around and what I saw scared me. Genesis was laying on the ground with a broken nose and chunks of hair missing. I looked down at my hands and noticed that those chunks were in my hands, I immediately dropped them to the ground and sank to my knees. "Baby, what happened?" I started shaking my head.

"I don't know, I don't remember anything after being tackled to the ground, it is all fuzzy after that until I felt you pull me off of her."

"Lester" he said, I looked up at him confused.

"What?"

"It was Lester that pulled you off of her. Not me, he was closer than me."

"Ranger, it is okay. You got to me as soon as you could, it is alright"

"Yeah, but Baby, you are not alright, you just got into a fight and you don't remember anything about what happened during it. Why was Gen attacking you to begin with?" I looked into his worried eyes.

"She blames me for Lester dumping her, I might have pointed out some of the things that I noticed, that Lester had told me about things that were going on in their relationship, in some the conversations we have had, she did not like that fact and could not see the truth so she went to hit me, but I saw what she was about to do, and punched her in the nose."

"Proud of you, Babe" I smiled at him and then snuggled down into his embrace.

TBC...


	20. Getting her Groove Back

Hey everyone, sorry about it being so long since the last time that I posted, it has been a crazy summer, I hoping to get back into by groove of writing. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 20 Getting her Groove Back

RPOV

I watched as Steph came strolling out of the ladies' room, right before I watched a very enraged Genesis tackle my Babe to the ground, Steph went in to motion and then started kicking the ever living shit out of her. I was running as fast as I could to get the ladies separated. Lester just came out of the men's room and was right there he wrapped his arms around my Babe and then pulled her away from Gen, he was trying to get her to calm down, but it wasn't until I asked her to calm down, that she did, we had started to gather a crowd, I was talking to my Babe and trying to understand what had happened that she would attack Gen like that, I noticed that the Hearts had gathered as well, this was not going to be well, while we did not have beef with the Hearts. Once my Babe, came out of the fog that she was in I noticed that she looked down at her hands and then dropped the hair that was in her hands. She sank to her knees and I had to ask her what happened. She shook her head.

"I am not sure."

"Why would she attack you like that?"

"She blames me for her and Lester breaking up."

"Why would see say that?"

"Well I might have provoked her with things that I knew had happened and things that Lester had told me."

"Proud of you Babe" I could see her snuggle down and relax in my arms. I picked her up and carried her over to the bike. I dug through the bike and found the first aid kit that I keep in the bike. She had a busted lip and what looked like a really good shiner. I broke open the emergency ice pack and placed it on her eye. She placed her hand over mine holding it there. I looked deep into her eyes, I for the first time could see the love that she had for me shining back. It scared me and then it amazed me at the same time.

"Are we okay to hit the road or will there be issues with that?"

"No we should be able to leave no problem, I think I saw that she was fine and that Big Dog was taking her with him."

"I am not sure who Big Dog is but at least she will not be around me."

"I think that she never wants to be around you again after the ass kicking that you gave her." She bellowed out this loud larger than life laugh, that made me laugh right along with her. I held the pack to her face for a little while longer, while the rest of the guys were finishing up getting themselves cleaned up and then we started back down the road.

Later that night, we were lying in bed after a couple of vigorous rounds of love making, when she turned and snuggled into my arms and gave out a heavy sigh.

"What is wrong Babe?" I asked

"Nothing is wrong, I just am not sure how I am supposed to go back to my life and live it like this never happened or that you aren't out here on the road, and I have to worry about what you are doing, and who is bothering you, or how you are?"

"That is a lot of thoughts that seem to be running through that mind of yours. Let's start with, you are not going back to your old life without me in it, remember we will be living together and you will be seeing me every day. Next, I will not be being going out on the road without you anymore…"

"You can't just change who you are for me" she blurted, I kissed her lips to silence her.

"What I was saying is that, we will be together, and I will not be able to go without you anymore, so yeah, I will not be making any trip that you can't not go with me on." She started to argue with me. "Don't argue with me about this, we both know that you will be going crazy, if I went without as well, and right now I don't want to be without you Babe." She nodded and then I kissed her on the lips. She kissed me back with a strong fierceness.

"I want you so bad right now" she whispered against my lips,

"Babe" I groaned before slamming my lips down onto her. Our tongues fought for dominance battling each other, she moaned which set my body on fire, she started to writhe up against me.

"MMMMM" she moaned out. "I can't seem to get enough of you" she purred.

"Well it seems that I have a very similar problem." I replied.

The next morning, I woke to the clicking of a keyboard, she was writing for the first time since the trip started she was writing, getting her thoughts organized, starting to tell the story of what living amongst a group of harden ex-soldiers. I knew that she was worried about how to portray the guys to make sure that she got across what we were really about and how many lives that we have changed because of the work that we have done. I know that she has spoken with the General for a long time why we were at the farm, she asked about his wife and the things that they had done, I laid very still on the bed watching her, I didn't want to break the flow that she was in, I knew that once I did she might not be able to get the thoughts done that she had blazing through her brain. She stretched out her back and put her hair up in a bun secure it with a pencil. She sat back in the chair, it was at this point that she noticed me watching her.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Just a little while, I didn't want to break your concentration, you looked like you were finally able to get some thoughts down in an order that would make a really great story." She nodded.

"I think that I understand you are all more of a brother hood than a gang, then the thoughts started to really pour out of me." I sat up in the bed and made my way into the bathroom, I know that she was struggling to make sure that she found the right tone for the story to help make the flow fit right with the style of the writing of the magazine, I contemplated this as I brushed my teeth and started the shower, I could still hear the clacking of the keys she was back at writing her masterpiece. With that thought I climbed into the shower washing away my worry.


	21. The Story Starts to Take Place

Here is extra treat for you, since I was bad and you were so good. Crys

Chapter 21 The Story Starts to Take Place

SPOV

I awoke from sleep, with the strong urge to get the thoughts from my head down in words so that I could start getting notes down on paper sort of. I sat up slowly not waking Ranger, I moved to desk that faced the bed. It was still very early in the morning, but the urge to write spurred me to complete the story.

 _When I started this assignment I had no idea, what type of adventure that I might be on if I survived it. Meeting my contact that essentially would be my guide for journey, he was tall dark and mysterious, he had the air about him that was dangerous and that he knew how to survive it all at…_

I hit delete until all of the words were gone, this was not the tone that I was looking for in this story, I wanted to tell the story of a group of men that travel across the country to help out other veterans live out the lives and dreams that they deserve for their service to the country.

 _I started this journey to write a story on how motorcycle gangs really live what drove them to pursue the life of crime and open road. What I found could not have been imagined, the journey was across country trek that opened by eyes to a world that without being a part of would have never been known._

 _One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen was standing on a hill overlooking a huge field of sunflowers, they seemed to go on for miles, I stood there for a moment trying to remember how to breathe, it was that stunning to see that the view before actually existed._

The words at this point started to flow from me, about how I had met a hard man that turned out to be one of the most amazing people in the world his care and his compassion for the those that he had served with and those that were just in need, were down on the screen before me. I told the tale of how these men, worked hard to bring the harvest for their former general that had retired, or how we had herd cattle between the pastures each day, the journey to help build homes for those veterans that just really needed a home, it was in the simple gestures of making a man feel like a solider again at a parade. My back started to feel tight so I reached up a stretched it out. I sat there a few moments before I felt like someone was watching me, I noticed that it was Ranger, who was lying in bed looking devas tingly handsome, he had a small smile on his lips.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Just a little while, I didn't want to break your concentration, you looked like you were finally able to get some thoughts down in an order that would make a really great story." I nodded.

"I think that I understand you are all more of a brother hood than a gang, then the thoughts started to really pour out of me." Thinking my thoughts out loud more than really talking. I noticed that he sat up and then climbed out of bed and made his way to the bathroom, I heard him start to brush his teeth and then I heard the shower start. I went back to writing, not letting the image of him in the shower, naked with water and soap running down his sculpted muscles. I shook my head and waited for the train of thought that I had been on to come back to me. It did not take very long for it to find me.

 _The life on the road is not an easy one, the way the wind whips around you on the highway, the way the rain pelts you on the shoulders, the starlight that seems brighter than you remember, the road will make you hard, but it will also become your home, it will call you back welcome it into your arms._

I did not hear the water shut off or him move about the room, or even that he had left to go get food for us, I did not look up from my computer till I reached the end of my tale. With a sigh, I looked up from the screen to see that it was late afternoon and I was alone in the room, I thought that we had to be on the road this morning to get where we suppose to end this trip at. I still did not know what was so important to get to but I knew that we had a dead line to meet. I stood up and stretched and then dressed, then out to find out what had happened to the sexy Cuban that I shared my life with now.

I opened the door to our room, to find said Cuban man sitting on the stoop of the room, I smiled when I saw him.

"What happened I thought that we were supposed to be there tonight?"

"Calm down Baby, the guys went ahead we will meet up with them tomorrow.

"Why?"

"You were writing and it seemed like you were in a groove, I wanted you to get all of thoughts down so that you could really enjoy the last leg of this journey with me. I know that you have been curious about where we are going and what we will be doing when we get there, but I want you to be able to relax and spend some time with me where we are not worried about a story, or a horrible woman that wants nothing more than to ruin our lives, even more so I want to be able to hold you and not have to worry about what is going to happen next, I want to just enjoy…." He was rambling so I cut him by throwing myself into arms and kissing the life out of him. I heard him growl, and he kissed my back. When the need for air over whelmed our passion we pulled back from each other.

"So where are we going next?" I asked, Ranger threw his head back and let out a bought of laughter.

"We are headed to Napa Valley, for a grape harvest at a winery, that is owned by a friend of ours that we served with. He always needs help, the best part of the whole trip is the Harvest ball that he has every year" he kissed my lips softly, then he cradled my face, I leaned into his hands, and then he leaned down and kissed me sweetly on the lips. "You want to grab something to eat, before we turn in for the night we have to leave early in the morning." I nodded and went back into the room to grab my boots and then we head down the street, hand and hand, to the cafe to grab some dinner. She was excited for the next part of the journey that would bring this trip to an end, before they made their way back home.


	22. Remember the Time

Chapter 22 Remember the time

Finally, we were home, after 3 months of non-stop travelling, we were back in Trenton. After leaving the Napa Valley where we spent a week, we started the journey back, stopping along the way to help a rancher in Montana, and help in the open ceremony of a Vietnam war memorial in the home town of Hal, his father had served in the war and never came home, he wanted to be there to honor the memory of his dad. We also stopped by to visit the general to make sure that he was all set for the winter, he assured us that he was and the next day we were on our way home. Walking into my apartment after so long was an unreal experience. A fine layer of dust covered everything, I knew that I needed to rest, but after spending every night of the last 3 months sleeping next to Ranger, I was having a hard time settling down. I unpacked by bag into the laundry, as it all needed to be washed after it journey. I sat in front of my computer, overlooking the story that I had written, and edited over several times. Ric had read the story, he loved the adventure of it all and was excited to see it in print.

Later, I was lying in bed thinking about that week in Napa, and how that had been the changing point in my relationship, the morning after I first started writing my story, we left early and headed up the coastal highway to Napa Valley. We arrived at dinner time to the vineyard, we made our way to the warehouse, that stored the wine. We pulled open the doors to the storehouse, and there was what sounded like a feast going on inside. We were greeted with the yells of "finally" and "about damn time". We sat and joined the feast. The next morning, I joined in on how to harvest the grapes, the harvest festival would happen in the next day and throughout the week. Working in the fields was not always pleasant, but it was rewarding. Once the fields had been swept clean, we started on the more fun aspects of the festival week.

I could feel a smile break out on my face as I thought about the traditional grape smashing, that was celebrated at the vineyard. It is tradition that only married women could stomp the grapes. It was entertaining to watch the women stomp and frolic in the grapes. After they were all done then we moved on to the next steps. After that I spent some time walking the vineyard thinking about what this all means and how the assignment was all coming to an end, it made me sad. I would spend hours walking in the fields. Ranger came out one day to find me.

" _Baby, are you okay?"_

 _"_ _I am fine, just thinking"_ he pulled me into his arms and laid my head on his shoulder.

" _And, what is it that you are thinking about so much? You have been coming out here for days?"_

 _"_ _I have been thinking about how this trip, has changed my whole life, and I don't know if I want to go back to the world that I had before."_

 _"_ _Those are some deep thoughts, there Babe"_ I nodded _. "Any reason why you are thinking so much?"_ I shook my head. He squeezed my waist. He kissed my neck and headed back to main storehouse. I sat on the edge of the yard, watching the sunset.

Coming out of the memory, I could not help the tears that started to run down my face. That was the moment that our relationship changed.

Later that night at the ball, we were dancing together, the dress that he had bought me was deep midnight blue with a handkerchief hem that was floor length, the top was a halter. It made me look very sexy, he twirled me out and then back into him again, the skirt whirled around me, he was smiling as I came back to face him.

" _Babe."_ I smiled.

The next memory was sitting on the bench in the garden facing the lake, with the general, he was telling me that he had never seen Ric be like he was with me and he had seen it the first time we had come through. He told me about the love that he and his wife had shared. Over the years, he wished that they had been able to have children and that they had tried for years, he wiped his eyes, as he held my hand and told me not to worry, that worry was not good for the baby, I gasped in surprise, he squeezed my hand, and told me that I should tell Ric, that I might be surprised about how he reacted to the news. With that thought, I wiped the tears from my face, and thought about what I should do. I laid there in my thinking position thinking about how I should tell the only man that I ever truly loved that I was pregnant with his child.

I must have fallen asleep at some point and know I was awake with my stomach rolling, I knew that I needed to get to the bathroom, the problem was that I had very muscular mocha latte arm thrown across my waist. I wiggled against him and he squeezed me a little tighter.

"Ranger, let me up, I need to go to the bathroom." He lifted his arm and I barely made it to the toilet before I upheaved all the food that I had ever eaten. I felt Ranger come in behind me.

"Baby, are you okay?" I shook my head no through the last round of dry heaving. He rubbed my back while calmly speaking to me in Spanish. When I felt as if I was done, I leaned back against the tub with my eyes closed. "So are you going to tell me, what is going on?" I nodded. I took a couple of deep breaths

"I want you to know that I did not plan this and it is just as unexpected to me as it will be to you."

"Okay, Baby you are scaring me, what is going on?"

"I think that I am pregnant." I watched the shock flash across his face, before the most brilliant smile flash across his face. I felt his hand brush against my stomach, as he whispered "Te Amo Bebe", before he kissed me with the passion, that I had never felt before. When we broke from the kiss, I panted out "So I take it that you are happy about this news" he smiled and nodded. "Damn the general knows his shit." Ranger just threw his head back.

"I guess it is time for another adventure, and I think this time that we are just along for the ride." I smiled and couldn't agree more.

The End

 **Sorry that it has been so long since the last time I posted but RL has been very hectic and it kind of drove my muse away, but she came back long enough for me to finish this story. Thank you to all of you that have stuck with me through this story. I hope to see you soon.**


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